RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To describe the nutritional status in patients with screen-detected celiac disease (CD). METHODS: Nutritional status was assessed by serum tests and anthropometric measures in 26 subjects (16 to 25 years of age) with biopsy-proven CD and 29 healthy control subjects (16 to 21 years of age) with negative tissue transglutaminase antibodies (16 to 22 years of age); all the subjects were selected from the cohort of 3654 schoolchildren. RESULTS: Compared with control subjects, CD patients had lower median values of whole blood folic acid (91 versus 109 nmol/L; P = 0.01), serum ferritin (14 versus 27 microg/L; P = 0.028) and pre-albumin (0.21 versus 0.28 g/L; P = 0.001) and higher transferrin receptor (1.3 versus 1.1; P = 0.008) and serum transferrin receptor-ferritin index (1.2 versus 0.7; P = 0.006). Folic acid concentration was subnormal in 31% of the CD subjects (versus 14% of the controls) and iron status (transferrin receptor-ferritin index) was subnormal in 30% (versus 14%). Body mass index was not different in females of the CD and control groups (22 versus 22 kg/m2) or in the males of the respective groups (25 versus 24 kg/m2). Females with CD were shorter than the controls (mean 162 versus 167 cm; P = 0.018), but no difference was found in males. No association was found between the nutritional status and the markers of mucosal injury (villous-crypt measures), but titer of transglutaminase was associated with whole blood folic acid (r = -0.5; P = 0.016) and with transferrin receptor-ferritin index (r = 0.4, P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: One third of screen-detected adolescent CD subjects have abnormalities in folate or iron status that call for early diagnosis and dietary treatment of the disease to prevent nutritional deficiencies.
Assuntos
Doença Celíaca/sangue , Ácido Fólico/sangue , Ferro/sangue , Estado Nutricional , Adolescente , Adulto , Biópsia , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Doença Celíaca/diagnóstico , Doença Celíaca/patologia , Doença Celíaca/fisiopatologia , Estudos de Coortes , Feminino , Deficiência de Ácido Fólico/sangue , Deficiência de Ácido Fólico/prevenção & controle , Humanos , Deficiências de Ferro , MasculinoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Wheat, rye, and barley proteins induce celiac disease, an autoimmune type of gastrointestinal disorder, in genetically susceptible persons. Because the disease may be underdiagnosed, we estimated the prevalence of the disease and tested the hypothesis that assays for serum autoantibodies can be used to detect untreated celiac disease and that positive findings correlate with specific HLA haplotypes. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 3654 students (age range, 7 to 16 years) in 1994 and screened in 2001 for endomysial and tissue transglutaminase antibodies. HLA typing was also performed on stored blood samples. All antibody-positive subjects were asked to undergo small-bowel biopsy in 2001. RESULTS: Of the 3654 subjects, 56 (1.5 percent) had positive antibody tests, as determined in 2001. Results of the two antibody tests were highly concordant. As of 1994, none of the subjects had received a clinical diagnosis of celiac disease, but 10 who had positive tests for both antibodies in serum obtained in 1994 received the diagnosis between 1994 and 2001. Of the 36 other subjects with positive antibody assays who agreed to undergo biopsy in 2001, 27 had evidence of celiac disease on biopsy. Thus, the estimated biopsy-proved prevalence was 1 case in 99 children. All but two of the antibody-positive subjects had either the HLA-DQ2 or the HLA-DQ8 haplotype. The prevalence of the combination of antibody positivity and an HLA haplotype associated with celiac disease was 1 in 67. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of serum tissue transglutaminase and endomysial autoantibodies is predictive of small-bowel abnormalities indicative of celiac disease. There is a good correlation between autoantibody positivity and specific HLA haplotypes. We estimate that the prevalence of celiac disease among Finnish schoolchildren is at least 1 case in 99 children.
Assuntos
Autoanticorpos/sangue , Doença Celíaca/epidemiologia , Fibras Musculares Esqueléticas/imunologia , Transglutaminases/imunologia , Adolescente , Biópsia , Doença Celíaca/diagnóstico , Doença Celíaca/imunologia , Criança , Estudos de Coortes , Feminino , Finlândia/epidemiologia , Teste de Histocompatibilidade , Humanos , Imunoglobulina A/sangue , Imunoglobulina G/sangue , Intestino Delgado/patologia , Masculino , Mucosa Nasal/anatomia & histologia , PrevalênciaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To describe the meal patterns and food use on weekdays among 10- to 11-year-old Finnish children and to analyse these in relation to family's socio-economic status and the child's behaviour. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study on a cohort of 404 children aged 10-11 years in the rural town of Ylivieska, mid-western Finland. METHODS: A food-frequency questionnaire including questions on meal patterns and food use and the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) completed by the parents and the child together. RESULTS: Practically all children (99%) ate breakfast regularly, 94% had a daily school lunch and 80% had dinner at home daily. Vegetables were consumed daily at home by 26% and fruits or berries by 21%, while 46% of the children had salad daily at school. Twenty-four per cent ate sweets daily or nearly so on weekdays. The children from families of high socio-economic status ate vegetables more often, and fewer of them used butter or high-fat milk. The children with no regular family dinner ate sweets and fast foods more often, and had higher total CBCL problem scores than those with a regular family dinner. CONCLUSION: Skipping meals appears not to be common among Finnish children aged 10-11 years, but a considerable proportion consume sweets frequently and vegetables infrequently. High family socio-economic status and a tendency to eat together are associated with healthy food choices among schoolchildren.