Health

Screening detects celiac before symptoms appear, but at older age

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 15, 2004

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Celiac disease is increasingly being diagnosed through screening before the appearance of symptoms, but the average age of a patient at the first diagnosis has increased, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Orlando, Fla., this month.

The study looked retroactively at 590 patients with celiac diagnosis confirmed by biopsy from 1952 to 2004.

Since 1980, patient age of diagnosis has increased from 30.5 to 42, and the number of cases diagnosed after significant diarrhea decreased from 91% to 37%.

Time from development of the disease to detection also decreased from 11 years before 1980 to four years now. The percentage of patients diagnosed after the development of a malignancy also decreased from nearly 22% before 1980 to just over 5% now.

"More are detected through screening," said S. Devi Rampertab, MD, lead author and a gastroenterologist at North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System in New York. "The majority of patients now present as 'silent' celiac disease."

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/11/15/hlbf1115.htm.

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