New Study Calls for Screening of Family Members of Celiac Disease Patients

Prevalence of the celiac disease is high among first-degree relatives of patients with the condition, finds a new study

Parents, siblings, and kids of people with celiac disease are at high risk of developing the disease, reports a study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

This study calls for screening of all first-degree relatives of patients not just those who show symptoms.

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‘First-degree relatives of celiac disease patients carry a 1-in-10 chance of developing the disease,’
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The retrospective study found that 44% of screened first-degree relatives had celiac disease. Of those patients, 94% had symptoms that were not classic or had no symptoms at all.

"Research has shown that family members of celiac disease patients are at higher risk, and we used our Mayo Clinic data to show that proactive screening of first-degree relatives, regardless of whether they showed symptoms, resulted in diagnoses that would have been missed," says Imad Absah, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric gastroenterologist and the study’s lead author.

Celiac disease is an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, that can damage the lining of the small intestine over time. This can lead to malabsorption of nutrients, and cause diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, and other complications. There’s no cure for celiac disease, but patients can manage symptoms with a strict gluten-free diet.

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The study looked at a retrospective sample of 104 patients diagnosed with celiac disease between 1983 and 2017, based on Mayo Clinic records and celiac disease registry data. Researchers then identified 477 first-degree relatives, of whom 360 were screened for celiac disease. Of those, 160 were diagnosed with celiac disease. The median period between diagnosis of the initial patient and the relative was just under six months.

More screening for celiac disease among family members could prevent long-term complications, such as nutritional deficiencies, development of new autoimmune conditions, and small bowel malignancy, according to the Mayo Clinic study. Other studies also have shown a higher prevalence of the celiac disease in family members.