Hypocalcemic Convulsion in a Six-Year-Old Child with Vitamin D Deficiency

Abstract

Nutritional rickets occurs more commonly in breastfed infants with rapid growth and limited exposure to sunlight. Hypocalcemic convulsions secondary to vitamin D deficiency occur largely in patients with rapid growth rates, such as children younger than 1 year and adolescents. Vitamin D deficiency seems to be an unrecognized and prevalent problem in school childhood. Whereas infants generally exhibit bony deformities, most school-aged children are asymptomatic. In this case, we present hypocalcemic convulsion in a 6-year-old boy with nutritional vitamin D deficiency in order to emphasize that hypocalcemia secondary to vitamin D deficiency can lead to convulsion in other children, as well as infants and adolescents. (JAEM 2014; 13: 206-8)