Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Vitamin D Deficiency rickets(VDDR) had been noticed in children with protein –calorie malnutrition (PCM) in many parts of the world , so we undertook this study to verify the association between the VDDR and PCM in outpatient clinic of a hospital in Baghdad
METHODS:
We assessed120 children with rickets in the outpatient clinic at Fatema AL-Zahra Teaching Hospital nutritionally, clinically, and (&) anthropometrically, and they were compared with 120 nonracktic children as a control.
RESULTS:
We had proved that 46(38.3%) children of the racktic group were malnourished compared to 59(49.16%) malnourished children of the nonracktic group. So we found that the PCM in rachitic children was not significantly different from the PCM in the control group children (p value >0.05).
CONCLUSION:
Vitamin D deficiency rickets occurred as isolated entity related to environmental deprivation of sunlight among children with no supplementary vitamin D, especially the breast fed children whose mothers had Vitamin D deficiency also.