Abstract
Vitamin D-deficient rickets (VDDR) remains an important health problem especially in developing countries. Insufficient dietary intake of vitamin D and inadequate sun exposure increase the risk of vitamin D deficiency. Since their vitamin D requirement is increased, children and adolescents are potentially at higher risk for vitamin D deficiency. In adolescents, vitamin D deficiency causes osteomalacia, osteoporosis and muscle weakness. While osteoporosis is not associated with bone pain, osteomalacia has been associated with isolated or generalized bone pain. The present case suffered from generalized bone pain for three years. She was misdiagnosed as ankylosing spondylitis, which is a seronegative arthropathy, and was treated with corticosteroids and methotrexate, which have potential side effects. Hypocalcemia, hypophosphatemia, elevated alkaline phosphatase level, secondary hyperparathyroidism, and extremely low vitamin D level were consistent with the diagnosis of severe vitamin D deficiency. Complete clinical and biochemical resolution was achieved with vitamin D replacement.
Copyright and license
Copyright © 2012 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.