Clinical evolution of celiac disease in Italy 1982-2002.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this work is to assess how the clinical features of celiac disease have changed in Italy after the widespread introduction of serologic tests in 1993.


METHODS
Twenty Italian Clinical Centers collected information from 1982 until 2002 on 1968 patients older than 18 years diagnosed with celiac disease.


RESULTS
The results show that the incidence of atypical and silent cases of celiac disease has increased after the wider availability of serological test, which has allowed earlier diagnosis and treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
This paper provides a view on the evolution of the clinical features of celiac disease in Italy over 2 decades. The relevance of the analysis is supported by the fact that Italy is one of the countries with the highest incidence of celiac disease. These findings underline the importance of a timely diagnosis of celiac disease.
D'Archivio
Massimo
M
Department of Metabolism and Pathological Biochemistry, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, Roma, Italy.
Silano
Marco
M
Fagnani
Corrado
C
Scazzocchio
Beatrice
B
Nisticò
Lorenza
L
Giovannini
Claudio
C
Vari'
Rosaria
R
D'Ippolito
Cristina
C
Cotichini
Rodolfo
R
Stazi
Maria Antonietta
MA
De Vincenzi
Massimo
M
D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012698:Serologic Tests
D001323:Autoantibodies