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 factors were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with diagnosis of rickets in univariate analysis: male gender, being a twin, abnormal birth weight, malnutrition, higher birth order, higher number of siblings, having a caretaker who is not the mother, lower education of the caretaker, having a caretaker who is not housewife, and with protective effect, exposure to sunshine (in number of days per week, duration of daily exposure in minutes, and not wearing clothes during exposure). In multivariate analysis, the following factors 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 (OR = 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), having 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 daily exposure of more than 30 minutes, when compared to less than 15 minutes = 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.