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Treating children of Asian origin with a 2-year course of vitamin D supplementation might reduce the increased rate of rickets, hypocalcemia, and related conditions that are seen in these children.
This conclusion is based on a British analysis of the costs associated with treating children with complications of vitamin D deficiency. The Burnley National Health Service Trust, which serves a population of 242,000 in northwest England, including many of Asian descent, spent an average of £2,500 ($4,675) per case. By supplementing Asian children with vitamin D for the first 2 years of their lives, the expected cost of prevention of vitamin D deficiency is £2,400 ($4,488) per avoided case, investigators said (Arch. Dis. Child. 2006;doi:10.1136/adc.2006.098467).
Vitamin D supplementation has been on the decline in the United Kingdom. In 1995, 12% of babies received supplementation. In 2000, it was given to 4%, wrote Christos S. Zipitis of Burnley General Hospital Lancashire, England, and associates.
The Burnley Health Care NHS Trust identified all patients presenting to the pediatric department between January 1994 and May 2005 whose records included the words “rickets,” “hypocalcemic tetany,” and “hypocalcemic convulsions.” They identified vitamin D deficiency based on bowlegs, tetany, convulsions resulting from hypocalcemia, radiologic evidence, or biochemistry.
There were 14 cases of vitamin D deficiency, 13 of them in children of Asian descent. Eight were initially seen for other conditions, such as eczema or lower respiratory tract infections. The total treatment cost for the 14 was £35,075.12 ($65,590.47), or £2,505.37 ($4,685.04) per patient. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies in the entire Burnley NHS population is one case for every 923 children, so preventing a single case of rickets would cost £19,013.80 ($35,554.31) if children got multivitamin drops for 2 years.
But at a prevalence of one case of vitamin D deficiency for every 117 Asian children, the cost to prevent one case of rickets would be £2,410.20 ($4,507.07), almost 100 pounds ($187) less than treating a case of vitamin D deficiency. “We therefore suggest that supplementation with vitamin D of all babies of Asian origin for the first 2 years of life might be the economic answer to a growing problem,” they wrote.
Treating children of Asian origin with a 2-year course of vitamin D supplementation might reduce the increased rate of rickets, hypocalcemia, and related conditions that are seen in these children.
This conclusion is based on a British analysis of the costs associated with treating children with complications of vitamin D deficiency. The Burnley National Health Service Trust, which serves a population of 242,000 in northwest England, including many of Asian descent, spent an average of £2,500 ($4,675) per case. By supplementing Asian children with vitamin D for the first 2 years of their lives, the expected cost of prevention of vitamin D deficiency is £2,400 ($4,488) per avoided case, investigators said (Arch. Dis. Child. 2006;doi:10.1136/adc.2006.098467).
Vitamin D supplementation has been on the decline in the United Kingdom. In 1995, 12% of babies received supplementation. In 2000, it was given to 4%, wrote Christos S. Zipitis of Burnley General Hospital Lancashire, England, and associates.
The Burnley Health Care NHS Trust identified all patients presenting to the pediatric department between January 1994 and May 2005 whose records included the words “rickets,” “hypocalcemic tetany,” and “hypocalcemic convulsions.” They identified vitamin D deficiency based on bowlegs, tetany, convulsions resulting from hypocalcemia, radiologic evidence, or biochemistry.
There were 14 cases of vitamin D deficiency, 13 of them in children of Asian descent. Eight were initially seen for other conditions, such as eczema or lower respiratory tract infections. The total treatment cost for the 14 was £35,075.12 ($65,590.47), or £2,505.37 ($4,685.04) per patient. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies in the entire Burnley NHS population is one case for every 923 children, so preventing a single case of rickets would cost £19,013.80 ($35,554.31) if children got multivitamin drops for 2 years.
But at a prevalence of one case of vitamin D deficiency for every 117 Asian children, the cost to prevent one case of rickets would be £2,410.20 ($4,507.07), almost 100 pounds ($187) less than treating a case of vitamin D deficiency. “We therefore suggest that supplementation with vitamin D of all babies of Asian origin for the first 2 years of life might be the economic answer to a growing problem,” they wrote.
Treating children of Asian origin with a 2-year course of vitamin D supplementation might reduce the increased rate of rickets, hypocalcemia, and related conditions that are seen in these children.
This conclusion is based on a British analysis of the costs associated with treating children with complications of vitamin D deficiency. The Burnley National Health Service Trust, which serves a population of 242,000 in northwest England, including many of Asian descent, spent an average of £2,500 ($4,675) per case. By supplementing Asian children with vitamin D for the first 2 years of their lives, the expected cost of prevention of vitamin D deficiency is £2,400 ($4,488) per avoided case, investigators said (Arch. Dis. Child. 2006;doi:10.1136/adc.2006.098467).
Vitamin D supplementation has been on the decline in the United Kingdom. In 1995, 12% of babies received supplementation. In 2000, it was given to 4%, wrote Christos S. Zipitis of Burnley General Hospital Lancashire, England, and associates.
The Burnley Health Care NHS Trust identified all patients presenting to the pediatric department between January 1994 and May 2005 whose records included the words “rickets,” “hypocalcemic tetany,” and “hypocalcemic convulsions.” They identified vitamin D deficiency based on bowlegs, tetany, convulsions resulting from hypocalcemia, radiologic evidence, or biochemistry.
There were 14 cases of vitamin D deficiency, 13 of them in children of Asian descent. Eight were initially seen for other conditions, such as eczema or lower respiratory tract infections. The total treatment cost for the 14 was £35,075.12 ($65,590.47), or £2,505.37 ($4,685.04) per patient. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiencies in the entire Burnley NHS population is one case for every 923 children, so preventing a single case of rickets would cost £19,013.80 ($35,554.31) if children got multivitamin drops for 2 years.
But at a prevalence of one case of vitamin D deficiency for every 117 Asian children, the cost to prevent one case of rickets would be £2,410.20 ($4,507.07), almost 100 pounds ($187) less than treating a case of vitamin D deficiency. “We therefore suggest that supplementation with vitamin D of all babies of Asian origin for the first 2 years of life might be the economic answer to a growing problem,” they wrote.