Original Article
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World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2013; 19(17): 2612-2620
Published online May 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i17.2612
Prevalence of celiac disease in Germany: A prospective follow-up study
Wolfgang Kratzer, Monika Kibele, Atilla Akinli, Marc Porzner, Bernhard O Boehm, Wolfgang Koenig, Suemeyra Oeztuerk, Richard A Mason, Ren Mao, Mark H Haenle
Wolfgang Kratzer, Monika Kibele, Atilla Akinli, Marc Porzner, Bernhard O Boehm, Suemeyra Oeztuerk, Mark H Haenle, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Wolfgang Koenig, Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Richard A Mason, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States
Ren Mao, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Kratzer W and Kibele M contributed equally to this work; Kratzer W, Kibele M, Boehm OB and Haenle MM designed the research; Kratzer W, Kibele M, Mao R, Oeztuerk S and Mason RA performed the research; Porzner M, Akinli A, Boehm BO and Koenig W contributed to new reagents and analytic tools; Kratzer W, Kibele M, Oeztuerk S and Haenle MM analyzed the data; Kratzer W, Kibele M, Oeztuerk S and Mason RA wrote the paper; all authors approved the final version.
Correspondence to: Wolfgang Kratzer, MD, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 23, 89081 Ulm, Germany. wolfgang.kratzer@uniklinik-ulm.de
Telephone: +49-731-50044730 Fax: +49-731-50044620
Received: October 31, 2012
Revised: December 18, 2012
Accepted: February 5, 2013
Published online: May 7, 2013
Processing time: 187 Days and 17 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Only limited data on the prevalence of celiac disease in the adult European population are available. Aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of celiac disease in a randomly selected population sample in Germany and to assess the sensitivity and specificity of antibody tests. Eight of 2157 (1:270) subjects tested positive for celiac disease. Tissue transglutaminase immunoglobulin-A antibody yielded a sensitivity of 62.5% (specifity 50.0%), endomysium antibody of 62.5% (71.4%) and antigliadin antibody of 62.5% (71.4%). The prevalence rate lies within comparable European study results. The use of a single antibody test for screening purposes must be questioned.