Different modes of presentation in children with celiac disease

Objectives: analysis of clinical presentation of celiac disease and effects of gluten free diet on clinical symptoms among children aging 2-15 years study design: descriptive observational study. setting: department of paediatric shaikh zayed hospital/fpgmi,lahore. sample size: one hundred and fifty patients. subjects and methods: duration of study was one year. total 150 cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled randomly. the immunological assays and proximal bowel biopsy were performed in every case. results noted on proforma and analyzed. results: chief complains were diarrhea (79.3%) and failure to thrive (80.7%). main findings were short stature (87%) and anemia (72%). all had typical biopsy findings. majority of biopsy proven cases responded to gluten free diet (80%) and showed marked improvement in their clinical and laboratory parameters. conclusion: diarrhea and growth parameters improved markedly after treatment with gradual decline of titers of serum antigliadin and anti tissue transglutaminase. patients with poor compliance to treatment were mostly early teenagers in whom disease remained unresolved.