[Epidemiology of celiac disease]

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder induced by gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. Patients may present with typical symptoms of enteropathy with diarrhoea and failure to thrive, but atypical symptoms, or even silent forms are more often recognized since serologic markers are available. This progress led to the increase of the incidence of the celiac disease during the last 30 years, which reflect probably the improvement in diagnosing atypical forms of the disease. The prevalence is comparable from a country to another, around 0,7 to 2%. There is a progression with time from latent to silent form, and then to the active disease. The exclusion of the gluten from the diet leads to the regression from the active to the latent form of the disease.