ABSTRACT
Objective To screen the prevalence of celiac disease with serologic markers in the central Chinese population,specifically in patients with chronic diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS).Methods A total of 282 adult patients with D-IBS were selected based on ROME Ⅲ criteria with 296 age and sex matched consecutive healthy individuals as controls.A gluten-free diet (GFD) was advised in subjects positive for IgA/IgG anti-htTG/DGP antibodies and the serologic antibodies were retested after the GFD.Results Among the 578 study subjects,five D-IBS patients (5/282,1.77％) and two healthy controls (2/296,0.68％) were positive for anti-htTG/DGP antibodies.Among the seven positive cases,one was lost to follow-up and only four were evaluated during GFD therapy for an average of 5.2 months with clinical and/or serological manifestations improved.Conclusions The prevalence of celiac disease may not be uncommon in China.Compared with the healthy population,patients with D-IBS tend to be affected more.Thus,it is significantly important to conduct routine screening for celiac disease in patients with D-IBS.