Victorian scourges resurface as rickets cases soar

Many health trusts have seen rocketing numbers of young patients and health bosses say they have significant concerns about the condition, which is caused by a lack of vitamin D in the diet.

Both medics and charity workers have now raised concerns that as the economic downturn continues, children are increasingly likely to fall victim as diets deteriorate and household budgets dwindle.

Figures released by many of the region’s major primary care trusts, which are responsible for health care in communities, show GPs and practice nurses are faced with rickets more and more often.

Statistics compiled by NHS Leeds show that between 2000 and 2010 cases jumped from three to 118, a 97 per cent increase, while health trusts in Sheffield and Bradford also saw significant numbers of young sufferers.

Dr Subhashis Basu, specialist registrar in public health at NHS Rotherham, said that although accurate annual figures were not gathered by his trust on cases of rickets, colleagues were increasingly concerned.

Dr Basu said the trust now planned to ensure all at-risk children were given supplements through the NHS Healthy Start scheme, which would be cheaper than dealing with the effects of the deficiency later.

He added: “There are concerns that levels of insufficiency will continue to rise along with the widespread detrimental health effects associated with this.

“Even in the absence of exact data, it is likely that the adverse health effects of vitamin D deficiency place a significant additional burden on the healthcare system and will continue to do so in the future.”

Vitamin D is made in the skin by exposure to sunlight, and taken in through foods such as oily fish and eggs. According to doctors, a mild deficiency leads to aches and pains, with worse cases leading to rickets.

The condition, which results in softening of the leg bones, can lead children to look bow-legged. Vitamin D deficiency can also cause late teething, poor growth and breathing difficulties caused by a soft ribcage.

Experts now fear that other diseases associated with poor diet may also gain ground in modern society, with other names from the past such as scurvy, which is caused by a lack of vitamin C, re-emerging.

The York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) carried out a major study in 2007 which warned of the lasting effects poverty-related ill health had on both individuals and the country’s economy.

JRF’s policy and research manager Grahame Whitfield said: “The relationship between poverty and ill-health works in two ways – with poverty contributing to ill-health and ill-health contributing to poverty.

“As we see more people struggling to make ends meet, we must ensure that their health is protected so they do not suffer and so society doesn’t end up paying the significant additional costs of dealing with increasing ill health.”

Mr Whitfield’s warning was echoed by the Child Poverty Action Group, which campaigns to end child poverty in the UK by carrying out independent research and monitoring poverty statistics.

Spokesman for the group Tim Nichols said: “It’s deeply concerning to see a disease like rickets on the rise that we had thought in Britain at least was long consigned to history books.

“We urgently need to understand whether it is the high levels of poverty and material deprivation in the UK compared to many of our EU neighbours causing this dramatic rise.”