PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Screening reveals coeliac disease cases in children have doubled in 25 years

Mass screening of school age children has led to significantly higher numbers of coeliac disease cases being diagnosed, according to a new study presented today at the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

2021-06-05
(Press-News.org) (Geneva, 5 June 2021) Mass screening of school age children has led to significantly higher numbers of coeliac disease cases being diagnosed, according to a new study presented today at the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

Researchers in Italy found double the number of cases of the autoimmune disease - where the body produces antibodies to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye - in school children compared to a similar study by the same group 25 years ago.

A new screening programme of 7,760 children aged from five to 11 in eight provinces of Italy found that the overall prevalence of coeliac disease was 1.6%, much higher than the approximate 1% of the global population thought to be currently affected by the condition. The children were screened with a finger-tip blood test for Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) gene mutations which predisposes a child to developing coeliac disease. If they tested positive the children were then checked for antibodies to gluten. Diagnosis was then confirmed using the ESPGHAN (European Society for Paediatric, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition) criteria.

Lead author of the CELI SCREEN multi-centre trial,i Prof. Elena Lionetti, says the study showed that screening in childhood leads to more cases of coeliac disease being diagnosed than in standard care (where children are tested if they present with symptoms, or are screened because of a family history of the disease).

'Our study showed that prevalence of coeliac disease in schoolchildren has doubled over the past 25 years when compared to figures reported by our team in a similar school age group,' says Prof. Lionetti. 'Our sentiment is that there are more cases of coeliac disease than in the past, and that we could not discover them without a screening strategy.'

'At the moment 70% of coeliac disease patients are going undiagnosed and this study shows that significantly more could be identified, and at an earlier stage, if screening were carried out in childhood with non-invasive screening tests. Diagnosis and avoiding gluten could potentially prevent damage to the villi (finger-like projections that line the gut), which can lead to malabsorption of nutrients and long-term conditions such as growth problems, fatigue and osteoporosis (a fragile bone condition).'

'The study has shown that screening is an effective tool for diagnosing coeliac disease in children which could potentially help avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering from what can be a hard-to-detect condition.'

Commenting on the research, Tunde Koltai, who is Chair of AOECS (Association of European Coeliac Societies) and Patient Representative of the ESPGHAN Public Affairs Committee, added: 'This new study adds to the growing evidence base that the number of people in Europe with coeliac disease is rising, yet many still remain undiagnosed. It is essential that we adopt an effective screening strategy for coeliac disease across Europe to ensure children and the wider population are diagnosed as early as possible so that they can have the best possible quality of life'.

Coeliac disease is caused by the body producing antibodies to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye and used to make foods including bread, pasta, biscuits, cake, and some breakfast cereals. The antibodies damage the gut lining causing symptoms such as bloating, pain, diarrhoea, anaemia, and other conditions connected to malabsorption of nutrients, including fatigue, anaemia, osteoporosis, and fertility problems. In infants and children, coeliac disease can cause abdominal pain, bloating, and vomiting, as well as lead to poor growth and delay puberty.

Coeliac disease is one of the most common lifelong conditions in European countries. Following a strict gluten-free diet is an effective treatment, causing symptoms to disappear and gut damage to gradually heal.

INFORMATION:

Notes to Editors

For further information, to speak to Prof. Elena Lionetti or an ESPGHAN expert, please contact Sean Deans at media@espghan.org or call +44 (0) 208 154 6396.

Please note that any use of this press release must reference both ESPGHAN and the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

INFOGRAPHICS

To view a high-resolution version of ESPGHAN's Childhood Coeliac Disease infographic, END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Mothers transmitting hepatitis B to children as broken hospital procedures plague Europe

2021-06-05
(Geneva, 5 June 2021) Procedures to prevent the direct transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) from mother to child, particularly during and after pregnancy, have significant fragmentation and gaps, a new survey presented at the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition has shown. The results, based on 76 delivery hospitals from ten major European countries*, identified significant variances in maternal HBV screening frequency during pregnancy: 53% in the first trimester, 1% in the second trimester and 46% in the third trimester. Alarmingly, only 38% of those women who tested positive with high HBV-DNA levels were treated ...

UW researchers investigate mining-related deforestation in the Amazon

UW researchers investigate mining-related deforestation in the Amazon
2021-06-04
MADISON, Wis. -- If you're wearing gold jewelry right now, there's a good chance it came from an illegal mining operation in the tropics and surfaced only after some rainforest was sacrificed, according to a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and alumni who studied regulatory efforts to curb some of these environmentally damaging activities in the Amazon. The researchers, including UW-Madison geography Professor Lisa Naughton, investigated mining-related deforestation in a biodiverse and ecologically sensitive area of the Peruvian Amazon to see whether formalizing and legalizing these mining operations might curb some of their negative effects. Their study, published June 2 in the journal Environmental Research Letters, was co-authored by a group including UW-Madison ...

Study finds lower mortality rate for men at high risk for death from prostate cancer who received early postoperative radiation therapy

2021-06-04
In a large, international retrospective study, men at high risk for death from prostate cancer had a significant reduction in all-cause mortality if treated with radiation shortly after surgery. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among men, and about 1-in-8 of them will be diagnosed with it during their lifetime. While most men are cured with available treatment, there remains a group at high risk for death. In the United States in 2020, 33,330 men died from the disease, making prostate cancer the second leading cause of cancer death for men in this country. Therefore, among those at highest risk of recurrence, metastasis, and death from prostate cancer, understanding what steps can be taken to lower these risks could save and extend lives. Early ...

SLAS Discovery's June issue on synthetic biology available now

2021-06-04
Oak Brook, IL - The June edition of SLAS Discovery features the cover article, "A Perspective on Synthetic Biology in Drug Discovery and Development--Current Impact and Future Opportunities" by Florian David, Ph.D. (Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden), Andrew M. Davis, Ph.D. (AstraZeneca, Cambridge, England, UK). Michael Gossing, Ph.D., Martin A. Hayes, Ph.D., and Elvira Romero, Ph.D., and Louis H. Scott, Ph.D. (AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden), and Mark J. Wigglesworth, Ph.D. (AstraZeneca, London, England, UK). In January 2021, a survey of immunologists, infectious-disease researchers and virologists found that 90% of respondents believe SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic, continuing to circulate in pockets of the global population ...

Nutritional supplement proves 92% effective in boosting brain function

2021-06-04
An international subject pool was studied to confirm the effectiveness of a whole food complete vitamin and meal replacement product, IQed. The article, co-authored by Lisa Geng; Francine Hamel, EdD, SLP-CCC; Doreen Lewis, Ph.D., appeared in the peer-reviewed journal, Alternative Therapies (Altern Ther Health Med 2021 Mar;27(2):11-20(. The findings indicate that the carefully developed nutritional supplement, IQed Smart Nutrition, can help bolster key functions for people with a wide range of prevalent diagnoses including Autism, Apraxia, ...

SLAS Technology June special issue on 3D cell culture

2021-06-04
Oak Brook, IL - The June edition of SLAS Technology is a Special Issue entitled, "Emerging Trends in 3D Cell Culture: High-Throughput Screening, Disease Modeling and Translational Medicine." Free online access to the articles in this collection is courtesy of Corning Life Sciences, the issue's sponsor. Precision medicine is becoming an increasingly popular and powerful way to target and treat human diseases. Patient-derived cellular models ushered in high-throughput screenings (HTS) in laboratory automation. While the upkeep and expansion of cells for HTS is predominantly manual, this special issue explores an automated avenue for HTS in research settings that considers the expansion of cells. This design is flexible for research and development ...

Computer simulations of the brain can predict language recovery in stroke survivors

2021-06-04
At Boston University, a team of researchers is working to better understand how language and speech is processed in the brain, and how to best rehabilitate people who have lost their ability to communicate due to brain damage caused by a stroke, trauma, or another type of brain injury. This type of language loss is called aphasia, a long-term neurological disorder caused by damage to the part of the brain responsible for language production and processing that impacts over a million people in the US. "It's a huge problem," says Swathi Kiran, director of BU's Aphasia Research Lab, and College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College associate dean for research and ...

Newly approved drug effective against lung cancer caused by genetic mutation

2021-06-04
The new drug sotorasib reduces tumor size and shows promise in improving survival among patients with lung tumors caused by a specific DNA mutation, according to results of a global phase 2 clinical trial. The drug is designed to shut down the effects of the mutation, which is found in about 13% of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, a common type of non-small-cell lung cancer. The Food and Drug Administration approved sotorasib May 28 as a targeted therapy for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer whose tumors express a specific mutation -- called ...

Study of past South Asian monsoons suggests stronger monsoon rainfall in the future

Study of past South Asian monsoons suggests stronger monsoon rainfall in the future
2021-06-04
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A new study of monsoon rainfall on the Indian subcontinent over the past million years provides vital clues about how the monsoons will respond to future climate change. The study, published in Science Advances, found that periodic changes in the intensity of monsoon rainfall over the past 900,000 years were associated with fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), continental ice volume and moisture import from the southern hemisphere Indian Ocean. The findings bolster climate model predictions that rising CO2 and higher global temperatures will lead to stronger monsoon seasons. "We show that over the last 900,000 years, higher CO2 levels along with associated changes in ice volume and moisture ...

Soft tissue measurements critical to hominid reconstruction

Soft tissue measurements critical to hominid reconstruction
2021-06-04
Accurate soft tissue measurements are critical when making reconstructions of human ancestors, a new study from the University of Adelaide and Arizona State University has found. "Reconstructing extinct members of the Hominidae, or hominids, including their facial soft tissue, has become increasingly popular with many approximations of their faces presented in museum exhibitions, popular science publications and at conference presentations worldwide," said lead author PhD student Ryan M. Campbell from the University of Adelaide. "It is essential that accurate facial soft tissue thickness measurements are used when reconstructing the faces of hominids to reduce the variability exhibited in reconstructions of the same individuals." Hominids have been readily accepted ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses

Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.

Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy

How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease

A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet

Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice

Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast

Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds

The experts that can outsmart optical illusions

Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk

Scientists uncover novel immune mechanism in wheat tandem kinase

Three University of Virginia Engineering faculty elected as AAAS Fellows

[Press-News.org] Screening reveals coeliac disease cases in children have doubled in 25 years
Mass screening of school age children has led to significantly higher numbers of coeliac disease cases being diagnosed, according to a new study presented today at the 6th World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition