Prevalence of celiac disease in low and high risk population in Asia–Pacific region: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

This systematic review and meta-analysis study was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence of CD in low and high risk groups in this region. Following keywords were searched in the Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane database according to the MeSH terms; celiac disease, prevalence, high risk population and Asian-Pacific region. Prevalence studies published from January 1991 to March 2018 were selected. Prevalence of CD with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using STATA software, version 14. The pooled sero-prevalence of CD among low risk group in Asia–Pacific region was 1.2% (95% CI 0.8–1.7%) in 96,099 individuals based on positive anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-t-TG Ab) and/or anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA). The pooled prevalence of biopsy proven CD in Asia–Pacific among high and low risk groups was 4.3% (95% CI 3.3–5.5%) and 0.61% (95% CI 0.4–0.8%) in 10,719 and 70,344 subjects, respectively. In addition, the pooled sero-prevalence and prevalence of CD in general population was significantly higher in children compared with adults and it was significantly greater in female vs. male (P < 0.05). Our results suggest high risk individuals of CD are key group that should be specifically targeted for prevention and control measures, and screening may prove to have an optimal cost–benefit ratio.

Celiac disease: Understandings in diagnostic, nutritional, and medicinal aspects

“…15 High rates are recorded in North Africa, Middle East, and Asia-pacific regions. 16 Similarly, the prevalence of the disease is reported to be high in Arab countries, reaching 3.2% in Saudi Arabia, due to dietary habits such as excessive consumption of barley and wheat, and to a higher frequency of DR3-DQ2 haplotypes. 17 It is probably underestimated in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and is almost unknown in many other countries.…”

“…The disease is more prevalent, with large discrepancies between series in the so called high risk groups, such as type 1 diabetes (1–12%); 19,20 auto-immune thyroid disease (2–6%); 16,21 Down syndrome (2–6%); 22,23 auto-immune hepatitis (3–7%); 24,25 Turner syndrome (4–5%); 26,27 CD first-degree family members (10–20%); 28,29 individuals with iron deficiency anemia (3–15%); 29,30 patients with osteoporosis (1–3%), 29 and many other clinical conditions. 16,28…”

Celiac disease in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Screening the period 2020–2021, in Israel, the CD autoimmunity incidence was highest in the pediatric age groups, especially in children aged 0–5, and was 4 times higher than the adults aged 26–55 [ 9 ]. In the Asia-Pacific region, the CD prevalence in the general population was higher in children compared with adults and was greater in women vs. men (P < 0.05) [ 10 ]. Arab's countries such as Saudi Arabia reported the highest CD prevalence among the general population (3.2%) and Tunisia reported the lowest CD prevalence (0.1%).…”

Association between intestinal neoplasms and celiac disease: A review

“…According to a systematic review, the global prevalence of CD was 1.4% using serum samples and 0.7% using biopsy samples[ 13 ]. The prevalence of biopsy-confirmed CD in some populations is as high as 4.3%[ 14 ]. However, studies have shown that the worldwide incidence of CD is underestimated.…”