Popularity of gluten-free diets ‘obscures true coeliac disease rate’
Diagnoses are being missed because patients have already gone gluten-free, pathologists say
Hundreds of coeliac disease diagnoses are being missed each year because of the high number of individuals choosing a gluten-free diet with no medical indication, an Australian study suggests.
Clinicians are urged to check gluten avoidance before commencing coeliac serology tests, which can only give an accurate result when the patient has gluten in their diet.
Although the prevalence of coeliac disease (CD) is 1-2%, researchers from Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital say that an estimated 7.5% of Australians appear to be excluding gluten from their diet.
“The high number of individuals on a [gluten-free diet] is likely impacting the ability to accurately diagnose CD using serum-based testing,” the study authors wrote in Pathology.
