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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Celiac Diase 4x more common than in 1950s

Science Daily's piece "Celiac Disease Four Times More Common than in 1950s" looks at the Mayo Clinic study which appeared in the July issue of the journal Gastroenterology.

The cool part of this study is that they were able to use over 9,000 blood samples from 1948-1954 and do follow-ups with people 45 years later.

The less awesome part is the increased mortality rates in undiagnosed persons with Celiac Disease. Not seeing the full text, its a little hard to say what is going on, but the fact that so many more people are being diagnosed and it appears that the rate of Celiac Disease, in the US, is growing almost exponentially. While I agree that it would be helpful to provide more wide-spread screening for Celiac Disease - the article makes comparison with testing for high blood pressure or cholesterol - its a bit alarming at the rate of increase. What is going on?

Journal article: "Increased Prevalence and Mortality in Undiagnosed Celiac Disease"

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