RESUMO
Background: Despite the modern life and the availability of nutrition, the prevalence of children suffering from rickets in Saudi Arabia is increasing these days. Rickets can cause an effect to the children growth and cause an impaction on their later life. Identifying the prevalence of rickets in Saudi Arabia and comparing it with other countries can bring useful information about it in reaching the causes, risk factors and prevention methods that have been done in the community to avoid it
Objectives: This study was done to investigate the prevalence of rickets among children in Saudi Arabia
Methods: A cross-sectional study on knowing the prevalence of rickets among children living in Saudi Arabia was carried out on 864 participants within different social media platforms during the period from February to April 2018
Results: 15.3% of the children were diagnosed with rickets, 50.5. % of the diagnosed children was between the ages of 0 to 5. Regarding risk factors, 41.9% of the children drink soft drinks and 15.4% of them were obese. Only 55% of the participants breast fed their children, 35.9% of the participants know what rickets is, 45.3% ask for medical help once their child has been diagnosed and 70.5% of the participants thought that vitamin D can prevent rickets
Conclusion: At the end of this study, there were an increased number of children that have been diagnosed with rickets in Saudi Arabia