Abstract

Examination of Coeliac Society records from eight areas of England has shown that the number of members rose with birth dates from 1900 to 1972, apart from a decline between 1941 to 1962, and then fell steeply. The steep decline in the number of members with birth dates after 1972 is unexplained, and is unlikely to be accounted for by change in diagnostic practice or registration and may reflect a true fall in disease incidence; but the fall in numbers of members with birth dates from 1941 to 1962 is explainable by a tendency for the disease to remit in adolescence or early adult life.