RICKETS AND OSTEOMALACIA IN SAUDI ARABIA: THE NEED FOR A NATIONAL PREVENTIVE PROGRAM

Rickets and osteomalacia are two distinct clinical disorders of impaired bone mineralization. Rickets is arising throughout the growing skeleton, in infants and children, whilst osteomalacia is occulting after the growth plates have fused in adults. Rickets and osteomalacia are reported with increasing frequency in Saudi Arabia, with vitamin D deficiency, being the most common etiological cause. The major clinical features of rickets and...