The usefulness of the xylose tolerance test as a screening procedure for coeliac disease has been reassessed in 54 children with suspected coeliac disease. 5- and 24-hour urinary excretion rates of xylose were of no value in discriminating between patients with and without coeliac disease; similarly, the 3-hour blood xylose concentration was nondiscriminatory. Three (15-8%) patients with subtot...

We presented the cases of three children with coeliac disease who despite good adherence to a glutenfree diet remained non-responsive to treatment. Two patients, one of them with IgA deficiency, were successfully treated by complete gluten exclusion with enteral nutrition. However the third child with a severe coeliac disease did not achieve clinical and histologic improvement, even on immunosu...

Using diagnostic criteria which are currently accepted as most reliable we have found that 19% (9/47) of patients with dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) have no evidence of coeliac disease. The incidence of HL-A8 in the DH patients was 78%, which is considerably greater than that in healthy controls and no different from that reported in coeliac disease. Furthermore, the incidence of HL-A8 was just...

A cell counting technique was used to count enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the duodenal mucosa of 10 children with coeliac disease and 10 controls, and significantly greater numbers of EC cells were found in children with coeliac disease. In four children with a clinical history suggestive of coeliac disease, but with minor histopathological changes in the duodenum, gluten challenge resulted in...

BACKGROUND Genetic predisposition and gliadin exposure are known to be crucial factors in the development of coeliac disease. Circumstantial evidence suggests that other unidentified environmental factors may also be of pathogenetic importance. AIM To define the relation between cigarette smoking and the risk of development of symptomatic adult onset coeliac disease. SUBJECTS Eighty six rec...

A total of 215 diabetic children were screened for coeliac disease by determination of class specific serum reticulin antibody. Nine children were positive for reticulin antibody and all underwent biopsy of the small intestine. Four new cases of coeliac disease were found; all of these children had IgA reticulin antibody. Two of three other children with a low titre of IgA reticulin antibody ha...

The average prevalence of coeliac disease among children with diabetes mellitus in 26 reports was 4.5% (0.97-16.4%). Malabsorption, unstable diabetes, and growth failure, indicate that coeliac disease may be present. Even those who are apparently asymptomatic may have subtle complaints indicative of coeliac disease if a careful history is taken. Ill health may only be recognised in retrospect f...

Challacombe 3-2/1000 was high for Italy and other countries in Europe, suggesting that coeliac disease in childhood may be more common than has previously been recognised. However, of 11 subclinical cases of coeliac disease reported after screening, nine had recognisable clinical features of this disorder such as recurrent apthous stomatitis, iron deficiency anaemia, recurrent diarrhoea, or sho...

OBJECTIVES Coeliac disease has emerged as an increasingly recognised public health problem over the last half-century, and is now coming to be seen as a global phenomenon, despite a profound lack of globally representative epidemiological data. Since children with coeliac disease commonly present with chronic diarrhoea and malnutrition, diagnosis is often overlooked, particularly in poorer sett...

We have studied the frequency of HLA-DR, -MT, and -MB antigens in adult patients with coeliac disease and in a group of healthy controls, evaluating the strength of the observed associations by measuring the aetiologic fractions. Among the antigens significantly associated with coeliac disease, MB2 (DQw2) showed an aetiologic fraction higher than those of DR3 and DR7. Our results suggest that M...