Evaluation of children with nutritional rickets.

AIM: To evaluate the clinical findings, risk factors, therapy and outcome in 946 children with nutritional rickets. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included a review of medical records of patients with nutritional rickets between March 2004 and 2009. Patients who displayed both the biochemical inclusion criteria and the clinical signs/symptoms or radiological signs of rickets were included in the study. RESULTS: The present study included 946 patients aged between 4 months and 15 years. Distribution of the cases showed a density between December and May. The age at diagnosis, showed two peaks and most of the patients were in the age range 0-23 months and 12.0-15 years. In infants and young children, most of the patients had been admitted to the hospital due to infectious diseases. In older children, short stature and obesity were the most common complaints. CONCLUSION: Children aged between 0-23 months and 12.0-15 years were under most risk for nutritional rickets, especially in winter and spring and vitamin D should be given to them as supplementation dose.

The frequency of Hashimoto thyroiditis in children and the relationship between urinary iodine level and Hashimoto thyroiditis.

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of thyroid autoimmunity in second grade primary school students and to examine the relationship between iodine and Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT). This was a cohort study performed with 1000 students. Urinary iodine levels, antithyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) and antithyroglobulin (anti-Tg) antibodies were determined in all children. Children with anti-TPO or anti-Tg antibody positivity or with goiter were summoned for detailed examinations. In total, 36 cases (3.6%) were diagnosed as HT. The goiter frequency was found in 17.5% of the whole cohort. Additionally, iodine deficiency was found in 64.2% of all children. The median urinary iodine excretion was determined as 132 microg/L (range 382 microg/L) in the HT group, whereas it was 73 microg/L (range 390 microg/L) in children with goiter but without HT and 81 microg/L (range 394 microg/L) in normal children. The urinary iodine level of HT cases was significantly higher than the other two groups (p < 0.001). HT was also determined in 2% of patients with low urinary iodine levels, in 6.2% of patients with normal urinary iodine levels, and in 7.5% of patients with high urinary iodine levels. Our data demonstrates the close relationship between excessive iodine levels and autoimmunity.

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in children and their family members in a district in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori among children and their family members and to evaluate some epidemiologic characteristics. The study included 275 children, aged 1-15 year(s), suffering from different gastrointestinal complaints. Blood serology and stool antigen testing were used for the diagnosis of infection due to H. pylori. Sixty-five (23.6%) of the 275 children were positive for H. pylori, and this positivity had a significantly increasing correlation with age (p<0.001). H. pylori-associated infection was observed among 45 (69.2%) and 17 (8%) mothers in the H. pylori-infected and non-infected groups respectively (p<0.0001). Most children and their families infected with H. pylori were living in an urban area. The findings suggest that infection due to H. pylori is a problem for this district area, and all children having any gastrointestinal complaints should be examined whether H. pylori was prevalent among their family members.