Seroprevalence of celiac disease in healthy blood donors

Celiac Disease (CD) is disease caused by gluten hypersensitivity. It is an immunological inflammation in small intestines due to sensitivity to gliadin in the diet. Altered small intestine mucosa is healed with gluten free diet, whereas it relapses with re-ingestion of gluten. Prevalence of the disease often ranges between 0.5-1.0%. The aim of this study is to assess serological prevalence of CD in healthy blood donors our hospital. A total of 1365 healthy blood donors were included in the study between June 2015-January 2016. Tissue glutaminase IgA(tTGIgA) levels were measured in serum samples, after informed consent was obtained. A total of 19 individuals who were all males identified as tTGIgA positive among the study group consisted of 1281 males and 84 females. 31.6 % (n=6), 42.1% (n=8) and 26.3% (n=5) of these 19 patients were in group aged between 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49; respectively. The prevalence of CD among healthy blood donors in our region was found 1.4% in this study. It must be noted that our study was conducted among healthy blood donors who are mainly man. Therefore it may not represent the whole community around. Although the prevalence we found was similar to the literature, the number of women included was fairly low. However, this data may provide important information about the prevalence of CD in our region with all drawbacks. Community pooled studies are needed to assess real life prevalence of CD. Key Words: Celiac sprue, seroprevalence, blood donors, serology