Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Dec 16, 2024; 16(12): 632-639
Published online Dec 16, 2024. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v16.i12.632
Physical and psychological symptoms and survey importance in celiac disease
Edward J Ciaccio, Anne R Lee, Jessica Lebovits, Randi L Wolf, Suzanne K Lewis
Edward J Ciaccio, Anne R Lee, Jessica Lebovits, Suzanne K Lewis, Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States
Randi L Wolf, Department of Health Studies and Applied Educational Psychology, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, NY 10027, United States
Author contributions: Ciaccio EJ wrote the article; Lee AR, Lebovits J, Wolf RL, Lewis SK reviewed and edited the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Edward J Ciaccio, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center, 180 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, NY 10032, United States. ejc6@cumc.columbia.edu
Received: May 24, 2024
Revised: September 20, 2024
Accepted: October 24, 2024
Published online: December 16, 2024
Processing time: 201 Days and 14.3 Hours
Abstract

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that affects approximately 1% of the worldwide community. Originally thought to be confined mostly to the small intestine, resulting in villous atrophy and nutrient malabsorption, it has more recently been implicated in systemic manifestations as well, particularly when undiagnosed or left untreated. Herein, the physical and psychological symptoms of celiac disease are described and explored. An emphasis is placed on efforts to query prospective and confirmed celiac disease patients via the use of surveys. Suggestions are made regarding the development of efficacious surveys for the purpose of screening for celiac disease in undiagnosed persons, and monitoring efficacy of the gluten-free diet in persons diagnosed with celiac disease. There are broad categories of physical and psychological symptoms associated with celiac disease. There is also an essential interaction between such physical and the psychological symptoms. It is important to capture the association between symptoms, via queries directed toward suspected and confirmed persons with celiac disease. The use of anonymous online surveys can be helpful to determine the qualities and characteristics which may be associated with this condition. It is suggested that personal surveys should be given a greater role in screening and to lessen the time for diagnosis. Querying the subject directly via a survey can provide clues as to the types of symptoms being experienced by those with celiac disease currently, as well as to determine the salient aspects of the symptomatology, which will be useful for rapid screening and monitoring in future work.

Keywords: Villous atrophy; Celiac disease; Digestive; Psychological; Survey

Core Tip: In this article, the current symptoms and issues of celiac disease are discussed. The study focuses on the use and utility of surveys to query persons during the screening process for celiac disease, and to assess efficacy of the treatment in persons confirmed to have celiac disease. The symptoms are subdivided into those which are physical vs psychological, and their impact on quality of life is discussed.