Gluten Immunogenic Peptides (GIP) Point-of-Care Urine Test in Coeliac Disease Follow-up before and during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy.

INTRODUCTION: Celiac disease (CeD) diagnosis has worldwide shared protocols. Conversely, follow-up of patients is still an object of study. Gluten immunogenic peptide detection in the urine (GIP) appears to be a new and efficient method for dietary gluten control of patients. The present study aims to assess the clinical usefulness of the GIP point-of-care urine test in the follow-up of symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with CeD before and during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. METHODS: Thirty adult CeD patients on a gluten-free diet (GFD) were enrolled before and during the COVID-19 lockdown through follow-up visits or remote consultation. Patients underwent anthropometrical evaluation, dietetic interview, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Then, two groups were formed: symptomatic and worried about gluten contamination. Each patient received 5 GIP point-of-care tests to perform a maximum of 5 times in the following 5 weeks in case of symptoms or anxiety state due to hypothesized gluten contamination. RESULTS: Sixteen symptomatic patients and 14 patients with concerns related to gluten contamination were included. There were no differences in age, BMI, compliance to GFD and GIP positive tests between the two groups. Worried group showed a borderline higher level of anxiety than symptomatic group (p = 0.06), with a significant minor percentage of patients reporting "no or low anxiety" (14.3% vs 50% p = 0.03). The symptomatic patients showed a higher rate of diarrhea than worried group (25% vs 0%, p = 0.04). Gluten in urine samples was globally found in 8 out of 30 cases (26.6%). CONCLUSION: The GIP test is a tool that can be used as a point of care test to assess adequate compliance with GFD and reassure symptomatic CeD patients from the feeling of anxiety for gluten contamination, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Increased COVID-19 Lockdown Burden in Italian Adults with Gastrointestinal Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes not only severe illness but also detrimental effects associated with the lockdown measures. The present study aimed to evaluate reported lifestyle changes in a cohort of adults in Italy, including physical exercise, food choices, and psychological wellbeing, after two months of lockdown. METHODS: A web survey on social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) of 32 multiple-choice questions aiming to evaluate the impact of the national COVID-19 lockdown in a sample of Italian adults. RESULTS: We received 1378 complete responses (women 68.3%, mean age 39.5 ± 12.5 years). The percentage of participants reporting regular exercise decreased during lockdown (52 vs. 56.5%). The vast majority of people continued to consume the three traditional meals per day, but the consumption of meat, fish, and eggs significantly decreased. Women reported more frequent anxiety, sadness, fear, and feelings of insecurity than men. The factors predicting the worst outcome during the lockdown were being a woman, low education and income, gastrointestinal diseases. CONCLUSION: The lockdown has had a limited impact on food choices and physical exercise in Italian adults of our series, since most of them made an effort to improve their lifestyle. However, women with gastrointestinal diseases reported more frequent negative feelings and poor adaptation to the lockdown.

Perception of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the Time of Telemedicine: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

BACKGROUND: After the COVID-19 outbreak, the Italian Government stopped most regular health care activity. As a result, patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) had limited access to outpatient clinics and hospitals. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze the perception of the COVID-19 emergency among patients with IBD during the early weeks of the lockdown. METHODS: We invited adult patients with IBD from the University of Salerno (Campania, South Italy) and the University of Padua (Veneto, North Italy) by email to answer an ad hoc anonymous survey about COVID-19. We also collected data on demographic and disease characteristics. RESULTS: In total, 167 patients with IBD from Padua and 83 patients from Salerno answered the survey (age: mean 39.7 years, SD 13.9 years; female: n=116, 46.4%). We found that patients with IBD were particularly worried about the COVID-19 pandemic (enough: 77/250, 30.8%; much/very much: 140/250, 56.0%), as they felt more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to their condition (enough: 70/250, 28.0%; much/very much: 109/250, 43.6%). Patients with IBD from the red zone of Veneto were more worried than patients from Campania (P=.001), and men felt more susceptible to the virus than women (P=.05). Additionally, remote medicine was appreciated more by younger patients than older patients (P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our survey demonstrate that the lockdown had a significant impact on the psychological aspects of patients with IBD and suggest the need for increasing communication with patients with IBD (eg, through telemedicine) to ensure patients receive adequate health care, correct information, and proper psychological support.

COVID-19 pandemic perception in adults with celiac disease: an impulse to implement the use of telemedicine: COVID-19 and CeD

Background Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes severe complications and deaths all over the world. COVID-19 also has indirect effects from the lockdown and the possible lack of food. We aimed to evaluate the perception of this in Celiac Disease (CeD) patients who require a lifelong gluten-free diet as a therapy. Methods We invited by e-mail CeD adult patients from the University of Salerno (Campania, South Italy) and the University of Padua (Veneto, North Italy) to answer an ad hoc COVID-19 survey. Results We sent the web survey to 651 email addresses and we received 276 answers (42,4%). CeD patients did not feel more vulnerable because they had CeD (not at all 56.6%)and they did not worry much about the possible shortness of gluten-free food during the epidemic(not at all 48.5%)The most worried were the elderly patients, patients with other comorbidities and females. Finally, CeD patients were happy with remote consultations and explicitly asked to have them. Discussion The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted a proportion of patients with CeD;in particular, women, elderly patients, patients with other comorbidities. COVID-19, although a challenging experience from the medical and the psychological point of view, has offered an opportunity to practice, on a large-scale, a remote consultation approach for CeD healthcare.