This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Osteomalacia

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Osteomalacia is characterised by loss of skeletal mass as a consequence of inadequate mineralisation of the organic bone matrix or osteoid.

It is the adult counterpart of rickets. The most common cause is a defect in vitamin D metabolism.

Osteomalacia may be difficult to discriminate clinically from other osteopenias - osteoporosis, osteitis fibrosa, and certain of the stages of Paget's disease; however, biochemically osteomalacia is the only osteopenia in which mineralisation is reduced.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page