ANALYSIS OF SERUM CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS IN RICKETS AND NON RICKETS CHILDREN OF GONIN-GORA, KASO AND JANKASA COMMUNITIES IN KADUNA STATE

📄 Project Abstract

Rickets causes bone deformities through the impaired mineralization of actively growing bone. Rickets is ranked among the 5 most prevalent diseases of young children in developing countries (Guesry et al., 1991), and is frequently found in Africa and Asia (Pettifor et al., 1978, Thacher et al., 1997; Thacher, 2003; Fischer et al., 1999 and Bhattacharyya et al., 1992). Up to 9% of children in central Nigeria have physical findings consistent with rickets (Pfitzner et al., 1998), including bowing of the legs, impaired mobility, pain, and pathologic fractures. Besides the long-term sequel associated with the bone deformities, rickets is also associated with an increase in acute morbidity. In Ethiopia, a case-control study described a 13-fold greater prevalence of rickets among children with pneumonia than in control children (Muhe et al., 1997). Although nutritional rickets is often attributable to vitamin D deficiency (Holick et al., 1999). Recent reports suggest that an insufficient cal...