Severe rickets in a young girl caused by celiac disease: the tragedy of delayed diagnosis: a case report

Abstract

BackgroundCeliac disease is a systemic immune mediated disease which usually presents with gastrointestinal symptoms, but it may present with extra gastrointestinal manifestations such as metabolic bone disease and failure to thrive. This may lead to a delay in the diagnosis.Case presentationWe present a 13 year old female from the middle east with an 8 year history of severe rickets causing multiple bone deformities leaving the child crippled with bowing of both of her arms and legs. The patient was also found to have growth failure, anemia and on further workup she was found to have celiac disease.ConclusionWe are presenting this case because it shows a severe case of rickets after malabsorption for many years. Celiac disease should be kept in mind as a cause of rickets in patients not responding to usual forms of treatment or when associated with other manifestations of malabsorption.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-701) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prevalence of celiac disease in Asia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Studies on the prevalence of CD in the general population are available only from seven Asian countries. Although population‐based studies are not available from many Asian countries, the presence of CD has been described in the form of case‐series from China, Iraq, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and United Arab Emirates . In addition, case reports of CD have been published from some other Asian countries such as Bangladesh, South Korea, and Yemen .…”