A case-control study on determinants of rickets

A case-control study on rickets was performed on 156 cases and 307 controls admitted to Birla pediatric wards, Yekatit 12 Hospital. The following fact ors were significantly (p<0.05) associated with diagnosis of rickets in uni variate analysis: male gender, being a twin, abnormal birth weight, malnutr ition, higher birth order, higher number of siblings, having a caretaker wh o is not the mother, lower education of the caretaker, having a caretaker w ho is not housewife, and with protective effect, exposure to sunshine lin n umber of days per week, duration of daily exposure in minutes, and not wear ing clothes during exposure). In multivariate analysis, the following facto rs remained independently associated with diagnosis of rickets in children: being a twin (OR=5.86, 95% CI=1.40-24.50), history of high birth weight (O R=8.94, 95% CI=2.30-34. 70%, moderate and severe malnutrition (OR=5.64, 95% CI=2.30-13.80 for severe malnutrition when compared to normal weight), hav ing the grand mother as caretaker (OR 19.80, 95% CI=3. 70-104.70), and with protective effect, exposure to sunshine (OR associated with an increase of one day of exposure per week =0.65, 95% CI 0.55-0.77; OR associated with d aily exposure of more than 30 minutes, when compared to less than 15 minute s = 0.24, 95% CI=0.09-0.64; and OR associated with being nude while exposed to sunshine = 0.32, 95% CI=0.14-0.73). There was no significant difference between cases and controls in marital status or religion of the caretakers .