title: Proximal myopathy in lacto-vegetarian Asian patients responding to Vitamin D and calcium supplement therapy - two case reports and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Severe proximal myopathy can occasionally be the first presenting complaint of patients with osteomalacia. This may lead to investigations and misdiagnosis of a neuromuscular disease, rather than a metabolic bone disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present here two cases of severe proximal myopathy in patients who were both of South Asian origin and lacto-vegetarians: a 31-year-old Indian man and a 34-year-old Indian woman. In both cases, their clinical symptoms fully resolved following vitamin D and calcium replacement therapy. These patients were at risk of osteomalacia due to their dietary intake and ethnicity. The role of dietary intake and sunlight exposure in the development of osteomalacia in certain ethnic groups living in Western Europe is reviewed here.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These two cases emphasize the importance of recognizing osteomalacia in at-risk individuals, as the condition is reversible and easily treated with vitamin D and calcium supplementation. It may also help avoid prolonged and unnecessary investigations of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Academic Department of Endocrinology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. hoodthabit@physicians.ie.
authors.forename: Hood
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thabit
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.forename: Seamus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sreenan
authors.forename: Diarmuid
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith