Objective: To determine the association between endoscopic findings vs. serology findings of patients with suspected celiac disease
Methods: All the suspected cases (based on their clinical manifestations) of celiac disease were initially recruited having age >14 years and <40 years of both gender. Patients who did not willing to participate, patients already taking gluten diet for more than 3 months, patients with other causes of chronic diarrhea and alternate diagnosis like thyrotoxicosis, whipple’s disease, giardiasis, patients with drug induced diarrhea, patients in whom we cannot perform endoscopy, pregnant women, and patients already diagnosed cases of celiac disease were excluded from this study. Celiac disease was confirmed based on positive anti-tTG antibodies. Endoscopic evaluation of duodenum was performed in all positive cases.
Results: A total of 50 patients were recruited for final analysis. Diagnostic accuracy of endoscopy was 34.6%. Young population (31.14±6.07 years) with females predominance (72%, n=36) were more common than males. The most common symptoms were presence of chronic diarrhea (74%, n=37) followed by abdominal pain (52%, n=26), nausea & vomiting (34%, n=17), and least common was presence of constipation (2%, n=1). On endoscopic evaluation, out of 50 positive anti-tTG antibodies cases, 24 had normal mucosa while partial villous atrophy observed in 15 (30%) cases and total villous atrophy observed in 11 cases (22%).
Conclusions: Celiac disease was more prevalent in young females and patients usually presents with history of chronic diarrhea. Anti-tTG antibodies have more diagnostic value than duodenal endoscopy. Villous atrophy was found in more than 50% of the patients who were diagnosed with celiac disease.
Frequency of Celiac Disease in Patients With Chronic Diarrhea
