Where are We Standing with the Screening of Healthy Population for Celiac Disease?

Mass screening for CD as a public health intervention is controversial. CD is still largely under-diagnosed or only diagnosed after a long delay, even when patients are symptomatic. Recent population studies and serological testing of at-risk groups reveal a much higher prevalence of CD than previous studies have reported.6 This could be at least partially explained by both the development of more sensitive serological tests and a high degree of disease suspicion. 7 The disorder is common, occurring in 0.5% to 1% of the general population in most European and other countries.6 Various studies investigating the prevalence of CD in Iran, Egypt, and Tunisia indicate that the disease is also common within these populations.