Rickets is a common condition characterized by growth slowness and bone age retardation due to mineral deficiency

Background: Rickets is a common condition characterized by growth slowness and bone age retardation due to mineral deficiency that occurs at the growth plate. Nutritional rickets in children is mainly due to vitamin D deficiency or due to dietary calcium deficiency which is very rare. Rickets has been known since Roman times, it derived its name from an old English word, WRECKTEN, meaning *to twist, the original account of the disease was by Glisson &Whistler in 1650, but not until the late 1880 was its recognized as a dietary deficiency disease and it was first successfully treated with cod liver oil in 1807 and by ultraviolet irradiation in 1919. Rickets is unlike most nutritional disorders in that it is more determined by cultural factors than social& economics. Objective: To find out the cause of nutritional rickets and to detect the main presenting symptoms and the distribution of rachitic signs. I also tried our best to reach the best recommendations that may decrease the incidence of nutritional rickets. Methods: This study was carried out on 100 patients with diagnosed rickets who were either seen at the outpatient dept or admitted in Bin –Sina teaching hospital in Mosul city (iraq) from September 2018 –Jun 2019.The criteria for diagnosis were physical findings, radiological studies and biological investigations full detailed history was taken from each case focusing on age group, type of feeding, economic state type of housing, season of birth and sun exposure strategy. The presenting symptoms at time of diagnosis were organized also. Results: (62%)of cases borne during winter, almost half of them were exclusively breast fed, the vast majority(89%) came from urban areas, all of them had history of a good sun exposure, the commonest presenting feature was a respiratory problem(42%), (97%) were proved to have wide wrist,(91%) had an excessive sweating, (62%) had a persistent open anterior fontanel and (81%) of them showed their first tooth between the age of 5_9 months. Conclusion: Nutritional rickets is still an increasing medical problem in Iraq specially in Mosul after a 3 years of a very horrible war which caused a significant nutritional deficiency among pregnant and lactating women and among the children themselves. Still I noticed the ignorance mothers about the importance of sun exposure.