Rickets

Rickets is a metabolic bone disease of growing infants and children caused by impaired mineralization of bone matrix and uncalcified growth plate cartilage This impaired mineralization leads to characteristic skeletal softening and widening of the epiphyseal growth plates

Rickets is a metabolic bone disease of growing infants and children caused by impaired mineralization of bone matrix and uncalcified growth plate cartilage

Pathophysiologically, it stems from systemic disruptions in calcium, phosphate, or vitamin D homeostasis—most commonly due to nutritional deficiencies, though genetic and renal wasting disorders can also be responsible Hallmark clinical features include bone pain, delayed motor milestones, widening of the wrists and ankles, rachitic rosary, frontal bossing, and progressive lower-extremity bowing deformities under weight-bearing stress

Pathophysiologically, it stems from systemic disruptions in calcium, phosphate, or vitamin D homeostasis—most commonly due to nutritional deficiencies, though genetic and renal wasting disorders can also be responsible Hallmark clinical features include bone pain, delayed motor milestones, widening of the wrists and ankles, rachitic rosary, frontal bossing, and progressive lower-extremity bowing deformities under weight-bearing stress

This impaired mineralization leads to characteristic skeletal softening and widening of the epiphyseal growth plates

Hallmark clinical features include bone pain, delayed motor milestones, widening of the wrists and ankles, rachitic rosary, frontal bossing, and progressive lower-extremity bowing deformities under weight-bearing stress