Nutritional rickets in Ghanaian children

ABSTRACT

Eighteen (18) Ghanaian children with nutritional rickets seen in the Department of Child Health; Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) from 1985-1994 are reported. Their ages ranged from 14 months to 44 months. Their mean age at presentation is 29.4 months. There were eight (8) boys and ten (10) girls. None of these 18 children was receiving the daily recommended allowance (DRA) of Vitamin D. They all had characteristic diagnostic X-ray findings in their wrist and ankle bones. The product of their serum calcium (Ca2+) and serum inorganic phosphate (Pi) that is (Ca2+ x Pi) was less than 30 in all of them and all had markedly raised serum alkaline phosphatase levels