Rickets: An Overview and Future Directions, with Special Reference to Bangladesh: A Summary of the Rickets Convergence Group Meeting, Dhaka, 26-27 January 2006

Rickets has emerged as a public-health problem in Bangladesh during the past two decades, with up to 8% of children clinically affected in some areas. Insufficiency of dietary calcium is thought to be the underlying cause, and treatment with calcium (350-1,000 mg elemental calcium daily) is curative. Despite this apparently simple treatment, little is known about the most appropriate management of bone deformities of affected children, and further studies are needed to determine the details of dosing and duration of calcium therapy, the role of bracing, and specific indications for surgical intervention. Effective preventive measures that can feasibly reach entire communities are needed, and these may differ between various affected regions.

Keywords
Bones; Calcium; Calcium deficiency; Child; Epidemiology; Ossification; Rickets; Vitamin D; Vitamin D deficiency; Bangladesh