What are the symptoms of rickets in children?

The growth of children is the future of the motherland and the hope of a family. Therefore, parents are very worried about the diseases that their children encounter during their growth and development. Rickets in children is a relatively common one. It is also commonly known as rickets. It is a nutritional disease in infants and young children. It is mainly due to the disorder of phosphate metabolism caused by vitamin D deficiency. If it is not taken seriously, it will lead to poor growth and development of children. Let’s talk about the symptoms of rickets in children.

Rickets in infants often initially manifests as mental and neurological symptoms, such as irritability, easy awakening at night and sweating. The baby sweats more when feeding and crying, and sometimes even the pillow becomes soaked. Then lesions in bone development will appear.

Specific clinical symptoms:

It is divided into four stages: initial stage, acute stage, recovery stage and sequelae stage.

1. Initial stage :

(1) Clinical manifestations: increased nervous excitability (irritability, restless sleep, easy to be startled, crying at night, excessive sweating, etc., and may cause hair loss in the occipital region and cause occipital baldness)

(2) Physical and chemical examination: Minor changes in blood biochemistry and no abnormalities in bone X-rays

2. Excitation period:

(1) Clinical manifestations: Skeleton - ① Head: Ping-pong ball feeling; square skull, hip-shaped skull; large fontanelle and delayed closure; late eruption of deciduous teeth.

②Chest: beaded cartilage; costal groove; eversion of the lower costal margin; pigeon chest; excavatum chest. ③ Limbs: "bracelets" and "anklets"; after starting to walk, ("O" type) or ("X" type) legs, greenstick fractures of long bones may occur. ④ Spine: kyphosis or scoliosis, pelvic deformity. Muscle changes - motor functions such as sitting, standing, and walking are underdeveloped, and the abdomen is swollen like a frog's belly. Nervous system - developmental delay;

(2) Physical and chemical examinations: ① X-ray: The calcification band is blurred, the epiphyseal end is widened, and the edge becomes brush-like or cup-shaped. ② Blood biochemical examination: Ⅰ. Blood calcium and phosphorus are significantly reduced; calcium-phosphorus product <30 Ⅱ. Alkaline phosphatase is significantly increased.

3. Recovery period:

(1) Clinical manifestations: clinical symptoms and signs improved; (2) Physical and chemical examinations: temporary calcification bands reappeared on X-rays; biochemistry returned to normal.

4. Sequelae period:

(1) Severely ill children may be left with skeletal deformities. (2) Physical and chemical examinations are normal.