What is the Difference Between Scurvy and Rickets

The main difference between scurvy and rickets is that scurvy is a micronutrient deficiency that occurs due to the deficiency of vitamin C in the diet, whereas rickets is a micronutrient deficiency that occurs due to the deficiency of vitamin D.

Scurvy and rickets are two types of micronutrient deficiencies caused by the deficiency of vitamins.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Scurvy
   • Medical Condition, Cause, Symptoms
2. What is Rickets
   • Medical Condition, Cause, Symptoms
     
3. Similarities Between Scurvy and Rickets
   • Outline of Common Features
4. Difference Between Scurvy and Rickets
   • Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Scurvy, Rickets, Vitamin Deficiency

What is Scurvy

Scurvy is a disease that occurs due to a severe deficiency of vitamin C over 3 months of time. People typically get vitamin C through their diet. Therefore, vitamin C deficiency is rare and easy to treat. Fruits and vegetables contain lots of vitamin C. The major symptoms of the disease include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding from the skin may occur. Furhermore, when scurvy worsens, poor wound healing, personality changes, and finally death from infection or bleeding may occur.

Figure 1: Scurvy

Furthermore, there are several factors that increase the risk of vitamin C deficiency. Usually, they include the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, eating very little food, smoking, a long-term dependency on medicine, having a poor diet during pregnancy or breastfeeding, etc. Besides, vitamin C deficiency is more common in the developing world. However, it is easy to treat vitamin C deficiency by adding vitamin C to the diet. Moreover, people treated for scurvy get better within 48 hours and they can totally recover within 2 weeks.

What is Rickets

Rickets is a condition that affects bone development in children. It also results in weak or soft bones, poor growth, bone pain, and bone deformities. Osteomalacia is a similar condition in adults. The common cause of rickets is vitamin D deficiency or calcium deficiency. Vitamin D largely comes from the exposure of the skin to sunlight. Oily fish and egg yolk also contain vitamin D. Some food items such as margarine and cereal are fortified with vitamin D. Moreover, vitamin D is essential for the formation of bones.

Figure 2: Rickets

Children may suffer from rickets due to an unhealthy diet or lack of sunlight. Moreover, rickets is more common in children with dark skin. Some medications given to premature children may also cause rickets. On the other hand, a healthy diet with calcium and vitamin D can prevent from rickets.

Similarities Between Scurvy and Rickets

• Scurvy and rickets are two diseases that occur due to different deficiencies of vitamins.
• A healthy diet prevents these diseases.

Difference Between Scurvy and Rickets

Medical Condition

Scurvy refers to a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by swollen bleeding gums and the opening of previously healed wounds. Rickets refers to a disease characterized by softening and weakening of bones in children, usually because of an extreme and prolonged vitamin D deficiency.

Cause

Scurvy occurs due to a deficiency of vitamin C while rickets occurs due to vitamin D deficiency.

Sources of Vitamins

Vitamin C occurs in fresh fruits and vegetables while exposure to sunlight helps to produce vitamin D in the skin.

Whom it affects

Moreover, scurvy affects both children and adults while rickets affects children, mostly.

Symptoms

The symptoms of scurvy include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, patients may experience decreased red blood cells and gum disease. Meanwhile, the symptoms of rickets include weak or soft bones, poor growth, and bone pain, leading to bone deformities.

Conclusion

In brief, scurvy is a disease that occurs due to the deficiency of vitamin C. Generally, vitamin C deficiency is rare as most fruits and vegetables contain vitamin C. The main symptoms of scurvy include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. On the other hand, rickets is a disease that occurs due to the deficiency of vitamin D and calcium. Rickets typically occurs in children. However, the main symptoms of rickets are weak or soft bones, poor growth, and bone pain, leading to bone deformities. Thus, this is the main difference between scurvy and rickets.

References:

1. NHS (n.d.). Scurvy. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
2. NHS (n.d.). Rickets. Retrieved August 8, 2022.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Scorbutic gums” By Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Own Work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “XrayRicketsLegssmall” By Mrich – Own Work (CC BY-SA 1.0) via Commons Wikimedia