Onset of coeliac disease: a prospective longitudinal study

To make a prospective assessment of close family members of patients with coeliac disease (CD) by testing their endomysium (EMA) and antigliadin antibodies once a year over a period of 12 y and to investigate whether and when they would develop a positive serology for CD while on a gluten-containing diet.

Since first-degree relatives of CD patients have a high prevalence of CD, we screened 92 children and adolescents, all first-degree relatives of coeliac patients, for EMA and total IgA antibodies, once a year.

Among 11 relatives, at the time of the first screening, 6 already had a positive serology and histology for CD, while 5 became positive only after a period of 2 to 5 y of negative testing. The jejunal mucosa biopsy of these five relatives with retarded positive serology for CD showed a flat mucosa in four of them and a partial villous atrophy in one. They were all HLA DQ2 positive and clinically silent for CD.

CD can manifest itself after years of negative serological testing.