Background: Epidemiological studies have shown a high prevalence of silent celiac disease (CD) among unselected pediatric populations and a low ratio of diagnosed to undiagnosed CD.
Objectives: To quantify the prevalence of silent CD, to assess the clinical features of subclinical CD and to determine the total prevalence of CD (silent plus symptomatic cases).
Methods: We determined total serum IgA, IgA antiendomysial antibodies (EMA) and IgG antigliadin antibodies (IgG AGA), if IgA deficiency was found, in schoolchildren aged 10-12 years from health district IX in Madrid.
Results: A total of 3,378 schoolchildren (47.8 % of the eligible population) were studied. Fifteen were EMA-positive and one child with IgA deficiency was IgG AGA-positive. CD was confirmed by intestinal biopsy in 12 children, representing a prevalence of undiagnosed CD of 1/281. Of these 12 children, 7 showed clinical features of CD. The most frequent symptom was iron-deficiency, followed by recurrent aphthous stomatitis and mild malnutrition. Before the start of this study, CD had been diagnosed in seven children from the same population, which would increase the total prevalence of the disease to 1/220 with an estimated ratio of diagnosed to undiagnosed CD of 1 to 3.5.
Conclusions: We confirm the high prevalence of silent celiac disease among the school-aged population. This ratio is one of the highest published and could be due to a high diagnostic suspicion for CD among pediatricians in our health district. Greater awareness of the minor symptoms of CD would reduce the number of patients with undiagnosed CD.