Blount Disease, Vitamin D deficiency, and Associated Comorbidities: A review and Meta-analysis

Varus deformities of the lower limbs are common problems in both children (Blount disease), and the older age group. The classification and management is a great challenge requiring a multidisciplinary approach to prevent a recurrence. In addition, the associated morbidities need earlier detection and management. The current review highlighted the etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and recurrence. Importantly, the review assessed the associated comorbidities that if not corrected might negatively affect the prognosis and endanger the patient's life. We searched the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar for recent trends in varus deformities; in addition, we searched the grey literature and screened the references of the included studies. The keywords ^" Varus deformities^", ^"Blount disease^", ^"rickets^", ^"vitamin D deficiency^", were used with protean ^"AND and OR^". We identified 245 articles, of them eight full text were screened, and only three evaluated the association of Blount disease and vitamin D deficiency and were eligible for meta-analysis., other studies were included in a narrative review. The studies pooled in the meta-analysis included 1924 patients and 1661 events. No association was evident between vitamin D deficiency and BD (odds ratio, 4.13, 95% CI, 0.45-38.10, P-value, 0.21). However, the small number of the study included and considerable heterogeneity limited our results (I² =93%, Chi-square, 28.79, and df =2). Further studies evaluating this important topic are recommended.