Pediatric Celiac Disease in Central and East Asia: Current Knowledge and Prevalence
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Date
2019-01-12
Authors
Poddighe, Dimitri
Rakhimzhanova, Marzhan
Marchenko, Yelena
Catassi, Carlo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
The current prevalence of pediatric Celiac Disease (CD) is estimated to be around 1% in the
general population, worldwide. However, according to the geographic area, a great variability of
CD prevalence has been described. Whereas a number of studies are available from Europe, North
and South America, Australia, South-West Asia, and North Africa, the knowledge and awareness of
CD in large parts of the remaining world areas is definitively poor. In several countries of Central
and East Asia, the consumption of wheat is consistent and/or has significantly increased in recent
decades, and CD is supposed to be underdiagnosed in children. In this mini-review, we aimed to
summarize the current knowledge about the prevalence of pediatric CD in Central and East Asia,
paying attention to the HLA-DQ immunogenetic background as well. Indeed, CD is likely not to be
as uncommon as previously or currently thought in countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, and China, in
addition to India, where pediatric CD has been clearly showed to be quite prevalent. Therefore, there
is an urgent need for population-based studies on the prevalence of CD in those countries, especially
in children, in order to increase the awareness of this disease and to improve the diagnostic strategy
in these areas.
Description
Keywords
celiac disease, children, HLA-DQ, prevalence, Asia