NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If children test negative for celiac disease on antibody screening, the risk of receiving a clinical diagnosis within five years is "very low," researchers say.
However, children with potential celiac disease (positive antibodies against transglutaminase, but normal tissue samples) have a high risk of conversion to celiac disease and should be followed up.
The current study is the five-year follow-up of a screening study done in 2013, Dr. Olof Sandstrom of Umea University in Sweden told Reuters Health by email. "We show that as many as one third of children with potential celiac disease develop overt celiac disease during the five years following the screening. This implies the need to follow these children for a longer period, which needs to be emphasized in guidelines."
Only one case of celiac disease was identified within five years among close to 13,000 children with normal antibody levels, he added. "We had expected more cases in (this) group of children, so this was something of a surprise."
As reported in Archives of Disease in Childhood, the 2013 mass screening among 12-year-olds in two birth cohorts (1993 and 1997) resulted in 296 seropositive children, including 281 who agreed to intestinal biopsy and 242 who were diagnosed with celiac disease.
