title: [Deficiency rickets: the current situation in France and Algeria].
abstract: Persisting vitamin D deficiency rickets in France results from the climatic, environmental and geographic situation of this country. Although systematic administration of vitamin D supplements to infants greatly reduced the prevalence of rickets among infants, clinical and/or biological signs of vitamin D deficiency are still found in children and adolescents, mainly during the winter and in populations vulnerable for economic, cultural or religious reasons. Signs of vitamin D deficiency are also found, during the winter-spring seasons, in pregnant women and their newborns living in urban areas. Such vitamin D deficiencies could be overcome by vitamin D supplementation to susceptible populations. In Algeria, vitamin D deficiency rickets present a continuing public health problem. The persisting high incidence of rickets among children appears to result mainly from economic and cultural factors. Vitamin D supplementation and health education are mandatory to reduce the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women and the occurrence of vitamin D deficiency rickets in infants, whether breast-fed or not.
authors.affiliation: CNRS URA 583, université Paris-V, hôpital des Enfants-Malades, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garabedian
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben-Mekhbi
mesh_terms: D000462:Algeria; D002112:Calcifediol / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D012279:Rickets / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D002112:Calcifediol
vernacular_title: Le rachitisme carentiel: situation actuelle en France et en Algérie.