Symptoms of vitamin D-resistant rickets
Oct 12, 2022
Source: Cainiu Health
Dr. Wang Lei
Introduction
In the early stage of vitamin D-resistant rickets, children may easily exhibit symptoms such as night terrors, night crying, excessive sweating, and irritability. They may also experience delays in physical development, motor skills, and even brain development. Severely affected children, due to reduced overall immunity, may develop accompanying conditions such as anemia and pneumonia. During the active phase of vitamin D-resistant rickets, children may show obvious skeletal changes.
Vitamin D-resistant rickets presents different symptoms during the initial and active stages.
Vitamin D-resistant rickets is a common disease in infants and young children. In the initial stage, affected children often experience night terrors, night crying, excessive sweating, and irritability. They may also exhibit delayed physical, motor, and even cognitive development. Severely affected children, whose overall immunity is weakened, may develop accompanying conditions such as anemia or pneumonia. During the active stage, obvious skeletal deformities may appear, including skull softening and depression, pigeon chest, funnel chest, and long bone deformities in the lower limbs leading to O-shaped or X-shaped legs.
The common causes of vitamin D-resistant rickets are primarily insufficient sun exposure, which prevents the effective conversion of vitamin D precursors into active vitamin D in the body, and inappropriate dietary habits. For example, inadequate intake or impaired absorption of foods rich in vitamin D—such as milk, eggs, fish, shrimp, animal liver, and lean meat—leads to vitamin D deficiency and subsequently triggers rickets.
