Only a few years ago the symptoms of Celiac Disease were commonly believed to be malnutrition, diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain. In the last few years diagnosis of the disease has continued to evolve and both studies have shown that many people with Celiac Disease do not have the classic symptoms that doctors are trained to look for.
Recently Against the Grain Nutrition published a great post about The New Picture of Celiac Disease, which goes into detail about a recent study to support this:
Research conducted a few years ago found that the majority of adults with newly diagnosed celiac disease do not have the once-considered classic symptoms of diarrhea and malabsorption. A growing percentage have silent or atypical celiac disease, with either no symptoms, or symptoms such as bone disease, anemia, acid-reflux-type conditions, constipation, or neurologic symptoms.
A 2008 study recently found that most children diagnosed with celiac disease don’t have so-called “classic” gastrointestinal symptoms either.
The new study evaluated the presentation of celiac disease in children in a pediatric gastroenterology practice in southeastern Wisconsin during a 17-year period. During that time, 143 patients were diagnosed with celiac disease. Gastrointestinal symptoms predominated in children younger than 3 years, whereas in children older than 3 years, the majority presented with nongastrointestinal conditions associated with a high risk of developing celiac disease, including type 1 diabetes, thyroid disease, Down syndrome, iron-deficiency anemia, short stature, or mood disorders – or they were tested because they were a first-degree relative of a person with celiac disease.
The classic clinical view of pediatric celiac disease, which includes malnutrition, diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain, should be replaced with the more typical presentation of an asymptomatic school-aged child who belongs to a high-risk group. The authors of the study recommend screening people, and first-degree family members of people, with Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, type 1 diabetes, thyroiditis, Addison disease, short stature, iron-deficiency anemia, unexplained elevation of aminotransferase levels, and other autoimmune disorders.
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