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High Prevalence of Celiac Disease in Italian General Population

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Abstract

The worldwide increase of celiac disease prompted us to assess its prevalence in the Italian general population. The 3483 inhabitants of Campogalliano were tested for immunoglobulin A anti-endomysial antibodies. Twenty subjects showed antibody positivity and duodenal biopsy detected typical mucosal lesions of celiac disease in 17 of them; the remaining three cases had a normal villous architecture, but the finding of increased γ/δ intraepithelial lymphocytes in all and the heterodimer DQA1*0501, DQB1*0201 in two of them was consistent with potential celiac disease. Only one patient had an overt malabsorption syndrome, characterized by diarrhea, weight loss, and severe weakness. In eight subjects atypical symptoms of celiac disease, such as dyspepsia and depression, were present, whereas the remaining subjects were silent. Celiac disease was more frequent in younger age groups. Our cross-sectional design study demonstrates that celiac disease prevalence in the Italian general population is 4.9 per 1000 (95% CI 2.8–7.8), increasing up to 5.7 per 1000 (95% CI 3.5–8.8) with the inclusion of potential cases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Cardioangiologia, Epatologia, Policlinico S.Orsola-Malpighi, Università di Bologna, Bologna

    Umberto Volta, Francesco Bianco Bianchi, Lucia De Franceschi & Alessandro Granito

  2. Fondo per lo Studio delle Malattie del Fegato, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena

    Stefano Bellentani, Giovanni Brandi, Lucia Miglioli & Claudio Tiribelli

  3. Dipartimento di Ginecologia, Ostetricia e Pediatria, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena

    Fiorella Balli

  4. CSF–Dipartimento di BBCM, Università di Trieste, Trieste, Italy

    Claudio Tiribelli

Authors
  1. Umberto Volta
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  2. Stefano Bellentani
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  3. Francesco Bianco Bianchi
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  4. Giovanni Brandi
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  5. Lucia De Franceschi
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  8. Fiorella Balli
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  9. Claudio Tiribelli
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Volta, U., Bellentani, S., Bianchi, F.B. et al. High Prevalence of Celiac Disease in Italian General Population. Dig Dis Sci 46, 1500–1505 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010648122797

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