Rickets is a bone disease that affects infants and young children where the bones fail to develop properly due to a lack of vitamin D. This can result in soft and weakened bones, fractures, bone and muscle pain and body deformities.
While more commonly associated with poverty and malnutrition in developing countries, it can also affect people from all walks of life.
Winston Churchill, who served as British Prime Minister during World War II, is believed to have suffered from rickets during his childhood. Born in 1874, he experienced a difficult upbringing and was sent to boarding school at a young age. It is reported that he had a curved spine and weak legs, both common symptoms of rickets.
Lead vocalist of the Rolling Stones and iconic rock star, Sir Mick Jagger also reportedly had rickets as a child. Jagger was born in 1943 and grew up in post-war Britain, where malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies were widespread. He was treated with vitamin D supplements and eventually overcame the effects of rickets.
Other notable characters thought to have had rickets include the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt, physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton and UK naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.
As nutrition improved in Ireland after the Second World War, it was thought that rickets had been eradicated. But in the early 2000s, over 20 cases of rickets in infants and toddlers were reported in Ireland. Subsequent research showed that low vitamin D levels were widespread in the general population.
A study undertaken by St James’s Hospital (SJH) investigated vitamin D status in a population within the SJH catchment area between 2014-2018 and found that nearly 40% of the population were either vitamin D deficient (
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