Resurgence in Victorian diseases alarms experts

SERIOUS diseases linked to poverty, such as rickets, gout and malnutrition, are on the rise.

A resurgence in patients being treated for Victorian-era diseases is causing alarm among health experts.

Rickets causes deformed bones in children and is usually due to a prol onged lack of vitamin D and calcium. Malnutrition can lead to weakness and stunted growth. Many cases occur in people over 65 who sometimes do not eat enough.

The data was gathered by digital health platform Nowpatient.

Between 2019 and 2023 there was a 50 per cent rise in people being treated for malnutrition among 39 trusts that responded, from 4,501 to 6,771 cases. Over the same period there was also a 62 per cent increase in the treatment of rickets – from 7,187 to 11,642 cases.

There has also been a 25 per cent rise in patients needing treatment for gout – a painful inflammatory condition often linked to diet – from 73,899 to 92,379.

Some experts link the results to lifestyle factors including poor diet. Some say this has been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “It is unacceptable a developed nation like the UK should see such an increase in the number of preventable conditions linked to poverty and poor nutrition – especially a disease like rickets which should have been confined to the history books.”

Experts at BAPEN, a malnutrition awareness group, say cases of undernourishment are rising. Its research suggests as many as 45 per cent of adults are showing signs.

Navin Khosla, a pharmacist and head of patient safety at Nowpatient, said: “How many people cook fresh food every day and how many rely on cheap non-nutritious foods?

“Fast-food diets could be linked to rising cases of malnutrition. Vitamin D is linked to sunlight and we spend less time than we did outdoors.”

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London, said: “An increase in rickets and malnutrition in modern Britain is alarming but, regrettably, not surprising. They are diseases of poverty.

“The figures for 2022 show one million children living in a state of destitution. That is a 2.9-fold increase in just five years. People simply cannot afford to eat a healthy diet.”

Dr Trevor Smith, past president of BAPEN, said: “We have seen an increase in malnutrition partly due to people living longer with longterm diseases.and there is the added effect of deconditioning associated with lockdowns, which meant many people lost muscle mass, becoming frailer with reduced appetite.

“Together with the cost-of-living crisis we would expect to see these numbers continue to rise.”

‘They’re linked to poverty’