The prevalence of CD in our study series was high, at least 1.0%, but may be as high as 2.0% if the frequency of silent CD is as high as we have found in the remaining unscreened cohort. These findings confirm that CD is one of the most common chronic disorders.

Objective. This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of celiac disease in children and adolescents with Down syndrome.Material and Methods. Forty-three children and adolescents with Down syndrome were screened for IgAantigliadin antibodies (AGA) and IgA-antiendomysium antibodies (EMA). Patients found to be either AGA-or EMA-positive were investigated further with intestinal biopsy.Results. None of the 43 patients had known celiac disease at entry into the study; 37% (16/43) were found to have AGA levels above normal, and 16% (7/43) to be EMA-positive. Of the 15 patients who underwent biopsy, 8 manifested villous atrophy. Villous atrophy was present in all 7 of the EMA-positive patients, whereas the villi were normal in 7 of the 13 AGA-positive patients who underwent biopsy.Conclusions. EMA is a good immunologic marker for use in screening for celiac disease, and screening is justified in patients with Down syndrome. Pediatrics 1998; 101:272-275; Down syndrome, celiac disease, IgA-antigliadin antibodies, IgA-antiendomysium antibodies.

Because the prevalence of CD at diagnosis of IDDM would seem to be 6% to 8%, screening for CD seems to be justified among patients with newly diagnosed IDDM.

The prevalence of symptomatic celiac disease declined after the infant dietary recommendations were introduced in 1996, but we could not find any difference in undiagnosed celiac disease between the screened children born before and those born after 1996.

The growth and food consumption of 30 healthy infants from 4 to 6 months of age have been measured. Two groups were assigned randomly to either a formula with 1.9 g of protein and 72 kcal per 100 ml (F1) or 2.7 g of protein and 69 kcal per 100 ml (F2). A third group of infants were fed breast milk (0.96 g of protein and 65 kcal per 100 ml (HM)). All infants received supplementary food according to the same regimen and were fed ad libitum. The mean protein intake was 1.3, 2.6 and 3.6 g/kg/day in the HM-, F1- and F2-groups respectively. The corresponding mean energy intake was 80, 101 and 94 kcal/kg/day. The formula-fed infants had significantly higher protein and energy intakes when compared to the breast-fed group. No significant differences were found in the rate of growth of crown-heel length, head circumference or in weight gain. The differences in protein intake between the breast- and formula-fed infants without differences in growth indicate that the formulas may provide a protein intake in excess to the needs.

IgA-tTG and IgG-tTG analyzed in radioligand binding assays are equivalent to IgA-EMA as screening tests for CD during childhood, but an intestinal biopsy is still the method of choice to establish the diagnosis. Although IgG1-tTG was more common at young age of diagnosis, both IgG1-tTG and IgM-tTG had low specificity and sensitivity and may not be useful as screening tests for CD.

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