‘Silent’ coeliac common in close relatives
Children should be screened regularly to ensure growth not affected: expert
Almost half of close relatives of a patient with coeliac disease are found to have the condition when tested, a US study finds.
Mayo Clinic researchers recommend parents, siblings and children also be tested, after their study has shown that 44% of first-degree relatives turned out to have the condition.
Nearly all of them had atypical symptoms or no symptoms at all.
Senior study author Dr Imad Absah, a paediatric gastroenterologist of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said this rate was higher than his team had expected.
