Clinical and Laboratory Surveys of the Iranian Celiac Patients

As an autoimmune disease, celiac is triggered by exposure to dietary gluten in genetically susceptible individuals, leading to various gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal symptoms. The aim of the current study was to accurately investigate epidemiology of the celiac disease in Hamadan Province, Iran.

This study was carried out as a case series at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran, 2016–2018. The participants were selected using census method. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS Software v.18 and descriptive statistics.

From 72 participants, 68.1% were females and 31.9% were males. In addition, the mean age of the participants was 32.47 y ±17.21; 15.27% of them had known genetic backgrounds. Serological results revealed that 47% of the participants had tTG antibody. Based on the disease severity classification, the highest frequency (57%) was linked to Marsh III. Furthermore, 10% of celiac patients were simultaneously diagnosed with diabetes.

In this study, celiac was mostly diagnosed in young to middle-age people (30–40 y), the majority of whom were females. It seems that the incidence of diabetes and CD is one of the most significant health problems in the province. High severity of the disease (Marsh III) was important as well. Of the disease symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms were more common; from which, diarrhea and abdominal pain were more common. In non-gastrointestinal symptoms, anemia was the most common symptom.