Rickets is a condition characterized by a severe impairment of bone mineralization, resulting in fragility and the onset of skeletal deformities at multiple levels, which mainly affects infants and children in the early years of life.
The disease was common in the past especially in the less affluent segments of the population, due to widespread nutritional deficits and poor sun exposure.
Today, rickets conditions are rare, but still possible, especially in countries with less sunlight (northern Europe, northern United States, Canada, etc.); in Italy, the disease is more common in northern regions than in southern ones.
In addition to those determined by insufficient sun exposure and nutritional intake of vitamin D, calcium and phosphate, there are forms of rickets related to metabolic defects and/or genetic origin.
