Prospective population screening for celiac disease: high prevalence in the first 3 years of life

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune enteropathy that develops in genetically susceptible individuals exposed to gliadin. Early diagnosis of CD may reduce the risk of complications, and several studies have related the duration of gluten exposure to the risk of other autoimmune diseases. It has been proposed that silent CD be diagnosed as soon as possible to avoid potential complications.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of CD among children less than 3 years and to provide treatment to those patients diagnosed with CD.

Parents of 1100 healthy children born between October 1998 and December 1999 were asked at the time of delivery to enroll their children in a program for the early diagnosis of CD. The parents of 830 children agreed to participate. Patients in the study were examined and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody was first measured at about 1.5 years of age. A second antibody titer was obtained at about 2.5 years of age. Patients with detectable autoantibodies underwent intestinal biopsy for confirmation of CD.

Of the 830 children initially enrolled, 613 and 484 returned for the first and second visits, respectively. None had anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies at the first visit, but 9 had anti-tissue transglutaminase immunoglobulins at the second visit. In 7 of these 9, intestinal biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of CD which suggests a minimum prevalence of CD of 1 per 118 healthy newborns.

The authors observed a very high prevalence of CD, comparable to that observed in other European populations, which might even be higher if all of the children initially examined had returned for their second visit. If general screening for CD were accepted, the authors would recommend age 2-3 years as the best time for measuring tissue transglutaminase antibodies.