Researchers noticed an "increased prevalence" of celiac disease in children who also suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Chronic abdominal pain affects between 10 and 15 percent of all school-aged children, a JAMA Network Journals news release reported. The prevalence of celiac disease in Europe is about one percent, and in many cases the condition does not present any symptoms.
The researchers looked for celiac disease in 992 children who complained of recurring abdominal pain. The study subjects suffered from conditions such as "IBS, functional dyspepsia (indigestion) and functional abdominal pain," the news release reported.
The final group of participants consisted of 782 children: "270 with IBS, 201with functional dyspepsia and 311 with functional abdominal pain," the news release reported.
The researchers performed blood tests on all of the children and found celiac in 15 of them. This translated to "12 (4.4 percent) of the children with IBS, 2 ([one] percent) of the children with functional dyspepsia and 1 (0.3 percent) of the children with functional abdominal pain," the news release reported.
"The identification of IBS as a high-risk condition for celiac disease might be of help in pediatric primary care because it might have become routine to test for celiac disease indiscriminately in all children with recurrent abdominal pain, although our finding suggests that the screening should be extended only to those with IBS. This new approach might have important implications for the cost of care because it has been estimated that in children with FGIDs, screening tests are common, costs are substantial, and the yield is minimal,"
The team determined that celiac disease four times more prevalent in children with IBS than in the general population.
"Based on the study by Cristofori et al, we suggest that selective screening for celiac disease is warranted for children with IBS but not for children with other FGIDS [functional gastrointestinal disorders]. However, the lines distinguishing IBS from alternative FGIDS are often blurred. It is within this reality that pediatric health care providers should examine the evidence, evaluate the patient and family, weigh the likelihood of a false positive test result, and make the decision that they believe will benefit the patient most," James E. Squires, M.D., and colleagues from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said in a related editorial.
