title: Serum antigliadin antibody levels as a screening criterion before jejunal biopsy indication for celiac disease in a developing country.
abstract: The objective of the present study was to determine the efficacy of detection of antigliadin immunoglobulins G and A (IgG and IgA) for the diagnosis of celiac disease in a developing country, since other enteropathies might alter the levels of these antibodies. Three groups were studied: 22 patients with celiac disease (mean age: 30.6 months), 61 patients with other enteropathies (mean age: 43.3 months), and 46 patients without enteropathies (mean age: 96.9 months). Antigliadin IgG and IgA ELISA showed sensitivity of 90.9 and 95.5%, respectively. With the hypothetical values of prevalence ranging from 1:500 to 1:2000 liveborns, the positive predictive value varied from 8.5 to 2.3% for IgG and from 4.8 to 1.1% for IgA. Considering the patients without enteropathies, specificity was 97.8 and 95.7% for IgG and IgA, respectively. In patients with other enteropathies, specificity was 82.0 and 84.1%, respectively. When patients with and without other enteropathies were considered as a whole, specificity was 88.8 and 91.6%, respectively. The specificity of positive IgG or IgA was 93.5% in children without enteropathies and 78.7% in the presence of other enteropathies. The negative predictive value for hypothetical prevalences varying from 1:500 to 1:2000 liveborns was 99.9%. Thus, even in developing countries where the prevalence of non-celiac enteropathies is high, the determination of serum antigliadin antibody levels is a useful screening test prior to the jejunal biopsy in the investigation of intestinal malabsorption.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Gastroenterologia Pediátrica, Departamento de Pediatria, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Alfredo Balena, 190, 6o andar, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. magbahia@medicina.ufmg.br
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bahia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rabello
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brasileiro Filho
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Penna
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D007223:Infant; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D007583:Jejunum / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G