Prevalence of celiac disease in the northern part of India: a community based study

While celiac disease is estimated to affect about 1% of the world's population, it is thought to be uncommon not only in India but in Asia also. There is a lack of studies on the prevalence of celiac disease from Asian nations. The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of celiac disease in the community.

In a cross sectional study, we estimated the prevalence of celiac disease in urban and rural populations in the National Capital Region, Delhi, India. A structured questionnaire was administered, by door-to-door visits, to all participants to collect socio-demographic data and to screen for features of celiac disease, namely chronic or recurrent diarrhea and, anemia. In children, additional features, namely short stature (linear height below 5th percentile for age) and failure to thrive/gain weight were also used. All respondents who were screen positive (any one of above) and 10% of screen negative individuals were called for serological testing, which is anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody. All serologically positive respondents were invited to undergo further evaluation including endoscopic biopsy. Celiac disease was diagnosed on the basis of a positive serology, the presence of villous atrophy and/or response to gluten free diet.

Among 12,573 contacted, 10,488 (83.4%) (50.6% male) agreed to participate. Based on screening, 5622 (53.6%) participants were screen positive. Of all those screen positive, 2167 (38.5%) agreed for serological testing; additionally 712 (14%) negatives were also tested. The overall sero-prevalence of celiac disease was 1.44% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22 1.69) and the overall prevalence of celiac disease was 1.04% (95% CI 0.85 1.25).

The prevalence of celiac disease in this north Indian community is 1 in 96. Celiac disease is more common than is recognized in India.