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The incidence of rickets and tetany as a function of the variation of sunlight.
Author(s) -
HORSTMANN PAUL,
PETERSEN HELGE
Publication year - 1945
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1945.tb03684.x
Subject(s) - sunlight , rickets , tetany , medicine , vitamin d and neurology , incidence (geometry) , vitamin d deficiency , seasonality , southern hemisphere , zoology , endocrinology , biology , ecology , physics , astronomy , optics
SUMMARY While the direct effect of sunlight has its maximum in June and its minimum in December, a possible accumulated effect of sunlight will reach maximum in September and minimum in March (on the northern hemisphere), provided the disintegration of the accumulated substance proceeds with the same intensity throughout the whole year. A survey of the date of hospitalization of 1259 patients with rickets and 478 with tetany showed that these vitamin‐D‐deficiency‐diseases had their maximum incidence around March and minimum around September. A complete reciprocal interdependence is shown by the case incidence curves and the curve showing the accumulated effect of sunlight. It is considered probable, that the seasonal variations of the vitamin D contents in the infantile organism approximately follow the latter curve. Finally it should be underlined, that a seasonal disease may well be dependent on sunlight, even when its maximum is found around one of the equinoxes.