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Rickets
Summary
Rickets causes soft, weak bones in children. It usually occurs when they do not get enough vitamin D, which helps growing bones absorb the minerals calcium and phosphorous. It can also happen when calcium or phosphorus levels are too low.
Your child might not get enough vitamin D if he or she:
- Has dark skin
- Spends too little time outside
- Has on sunscreen all the time when out of doors
- Doesn’t eat foods containing vitamin D because of lactose intolerance or a strict vegetarian diet
- Is breastfed without receiving vitamin D supplements
- Can’t make or use vitamin D because of a medical disorder such as celiac disease
In addition to dietary rickets, children can get an inherited form of the disease. Symptoms include bone pain or tenderness, impaired growth, and deformities of the bones and teeth. Your child’s doctor uses lab and imaging tests to make the diagnosis. Treatment is replacing the calcium, phosphorus, or vitamin D that are lacking in the diet. Rickets is rare in the United States.
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
Learn More
- Bowlegs and Knock-Knees American Academy of Pediatrics
- Mineral and Bone Disorder in Chronic Kidney Disease National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- Rickets Nemours Foundation
- Rickets American Academy of Family Physicians
- Rickets Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Vitamin D National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements
- Vitamin D Test National Library of Medicine
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Rickets National Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Rickets, Hypophosphatemic National Institutes of Health
Genetics
- Hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets: MedlinePlus Genetics National Library of Medicine
- Vitamin D-dependent rickets: MedlinePlus Genetics National Library of Medicine
Journal Articles
Patient Handouts
- Rickets Medical Encyclopedia