Celiac disease rate in children almost tripled in 20 years
According to UK research, celiac disease rate in children has almost tripled in the past 20 years. However, kids from poorer families have about 50 percent less risk of developing celiac disease.
Research shows that up to 1 percent of children in the UK have blood markers for celiac disease, which is an autoimmune reaction to gluten.
The research team analyzed data contained in a health database called The Health Improvement Network (THIN) to find the celiac disease rate in children.
Out of the 2,063,421 children in the THIN network, 1247 had been diagnosed with celiac disease. This translates to about 1 new case in every 10,000 children every year.
They found that celiac disease rate almost tripled in the last 20 years. The celiac disease rate in 2008-12 was 75 percent than it was in 1993-97.
Researchers also discovered that children from less well-off background were 50 percent less likely to develop celiac disease. This pattern was consistent in both boys and girls across all ages.
The research team believes that the increase in celiac disease rate in children is due to the rise of awareness of the disease, and the means to diagnose it. However, this does not explain the fluctuations between children with different socioeconomic statuses.
“Based on the current evidence, the most plausible explanation for the socioeconomic gradient in the incidence of childhood coeliac disease whereby children from least deprived areas have [it] diagnosed more often than those from the most deprived areas is that ascertainment of disease varies, rather than the true occurrence of [coeliac disease],” the researchers write.
This study showing the rise of celiac disease rate was published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
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REFERENCES:
1. “Socioeconomic Variation in the Incidence of Childhood Coeliac Disease in the UK.” British Medical Journal. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 22 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.
2. “Celiac Disease Rate among Young Children Has Almost Tripled in past 20 Years.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.
