Retrospective evaluation of the clinical and laboratory findings of children with celiac disease

Celiac disease (CD), is a disease developes in individuals with genetic susceptibility as a result of abnormal immune response to gluten, may be seen in the whole systems but especially in the small intestine and presents with different clinical manifestations in a wide range of ages ranging from childhood to adulthood associated with typical and atypical symptoms. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical and laboratory features of patients who had been diagnosed as celiac disease. This study contains 372 patients (217 female and 155 male) admitted to pediatric gastroenterology polyclinic with various complaints between January 2005- June 2014 and diagnosed as ceiac with biopsy. Average age of patients was 101.6± 50.4 months (6-212 months). Average weight Z score was -1.70± 1.35 SD, average height Z score was -1.78± 1.59 SDSD. The most common admission complaint was growth retardation in 30% frequency. In 2.4% of patients there wassimultaneous type 1 DM edildi.Olgu stature ratio 30.9% had In the first-degree relatives of 7% of cases, celiac disease was diagnosed during screening. The most common laboratory finding was iron deficiency in 41,4% rate. Additionally, vitamin B12 deficiency was detected in 14.8% , folic acid deficiency in 16%, and hypertransaminasemia in 36,9 % of cases. The cut-off value for tissue Tg IgA was considered 20 IU / mL. In 330 cases (94,8%) Tg IgA was positive, in 18 (5.2%) patients it was negative. In 14 of 18 patients with negative tissue Tg IgA, EMA IgA; in 4 cases AGA IgA was positive. Additionally in %83,5 of cases anti-endomysium IgA was positive. The first BMD Z-score values of the patients were less than -2 standard deviations that is accepted as low bone mineral density in the pediatric age group. The most frequent endoscopic finding in patients was duodenal disorders in 62.3% rate. Histologically, 26 (7.0%) of the patients were assessed as Marsh 1; 66 (17.7%) were Marsh 2; 246 (66.1%) were Marsh 3; 34 (9.2%) were Marsh 4. As a result; clinical and laboratory findings show wide range in patients with celiac disease. In addition to classical gastrointestinal complaints, celiac must be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with extraintestinal symptoms such as growth retardation, short stature, anemia and low bone mineral density. Key words: Celiac disease, clinical and laboratory findings, child.