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Dr Tontinia and colleagues from Italy evaluated health-related quality of life in celiac disease patients at the time of diagnosis and during a gluten-free diet.
The research team enrolled 43 adult CD patients (18 with a typical and 15 with an atypical clinical presentation, and 10 with dermatitis herpetiformis, and 86 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
The researchers administered the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire at diagnosis and after 1, 12 and 24 months of a gluten-free diet.
At the time of diagnosis celiac disease patients showed significantly lower SF-36 scores than controls.
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| Those with chronic infection had raised intima-media thickness |
| Digestion |
The team observed this figure in women but not in men.
At baseline, the team noted that both typical and atypical celiac disease patients had lower SF-36 scores than controls, while dermatitis herpetiformis patients showed a SF-36 profile comparable to that of controls.
During a gluten-free diet the SF-36 scores improved continuously in celiac disease patients and in the female subgroup, becoming similar to those of matched controls at 1-year follow-up.
After gluten withdrawal typical and atypical celiac disease patients improved their SF-36 scores and reached values comparable to those of controls.
Dr Tontinia's team concludes, "At diagnosis, celiac disease patients perceived a poor health-related quality of life this figure appears to be mostly associated with female gender."
"In all subgroups of celiac disease patients with a low health-related quality of life at diagnosis, the gluten-free diet allowed progressive restoration of health related quality perception."
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