1. Research from a study that screened 4,500 children for celiac disease found the disease may be highly undiagnosed in the general pediatric population. The initial results of the study were presented at the conference.
Three percent of children who tested positive for transglutaminase autoantibody were asymptomatic. Thirty percent of those who screened both positive and negative for TGA had symptoms of potential celiac disease.
2. The study also tested whether human leukocyte antigen, a major genetic risk factor for celiac disease, could be used to predict the occurrence of the disease regionally. The researchers used data from 6,798 HLA-typed children from the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study to determine where celiac disease occurred the most internationally. Sweden had the highest concentration of children with celiac disease at 2.1 percent, while the U.S. was slightly less at 1.8 percent.
3. Another study found women were more likely to have undiagnosed celiac disease after researchers reviewed 88 studies that included 290,969 subjects who were tested for undetected celiac disease
.
4. Research focusing on the accuracy and cost of point of care tests for celiac disease found the tests were 94 percent sensitive, and 94.4 percent specific when diagnosing celiac disease. “The pooled sensitivity and specificity of POCTs in diagnosing celiac disease are high,” the researchers concluded. “POCTs may be used to screen for CD, especially in areas with limited access to laboratory-based testing.”
5. Researchers also examined the differences between adults who were diagnosed with celiac disease through a biopsy compared to those who were diagnosed by serology. The researchers studied 982 patients who had responded to a questionnaire distributed by the Celiac Disease Foundation, and found 79 percent of patients were diagnosed by biopsy, and 21 percent were diagnosed by serology.
Those diagnosed through serology were more likely to have been diagnosed by healthcare practitioners than gastroenterologists.
More articles on GI and endoscopy:
GI leader to know: Dr. Ronald White of Mercy Clinic Gastroenterology
3 things to know about Danville hospital’s new endoscopy suite
70% of CRC deaths for Kaiser beneficiaries occurred due to screening gaps: 6 key study facts
