Who to screen and how to screen for celiac disease

Abstract

Celiac disease (CeD) is a chronic gluten-induced enteropathy with plethoric manifestations. The typical manifestations of CeD such as chronic diarrhea and malabsorption are widely recognized, however, many patients have atypical manifestations like iron deficiency anemia, idiopathic short stature, hypertransaminesemia or infertility, etc. These patients often present to the primary care physicians and/or non-gastrointestinal specialties. However, due to a lack of awareness among the healthcare professionals about the various atypical manifestations, many patients are not screened for CeD. In this review, we have summarized the available literature about the prevalence of CeD in various gastrointestinal (chronic diarrhea) and non-gastrointestinal conditions (iron deficiency anemia, short stature, cryptogenic hypertransaminesemia, cryptogenic cirrhosis or idiopathic ataxia etc.) where the diagnosis of CeD should be con-sidered. In addition, we also discuss special scenarios where screening for CeD should be considered even in absence of symptoms such as patients with type 1 diabetes, Down’s syndrome, and first-degree relatives of patients with CeD. Further, we discuss the diagnostic performance and limitations of various screening tests for CeD such as IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies, anti-endomysial antibodies and anti-deamidated gliadin antibodies. Based on the current recommendations, we propose a diagnostic algorithm for patients with suspected CeD.

Keywords: Screening; Diagnosis; Serology; High-risk group; Small intestine; Enteropathy

Core Tip: In this review article, we have summarized the available literature about the prevalence of celiac disease (CeD) in various gastrointestinal (chronic diarrhea) and non-gastrointestinal conditions (such as iron deficiency anemia, short stature, cryptogenic hypertransaminesemia, cryptogenic cirrhosis or idiopathic ataxia etc.).We thereby share the various clinical indications for screening for CeD. Also, we elucidate the diagnostic performance of various serological assays along with their limitations and propose an algorithm to diagnose patients with suspected CeD.