Prevalence and Clinical Significance of Gliadin Antibodies in Healthy Children and Adults

Sjoberg K, Aim R, Ivarsson SA, Lindstrom C, Eriksson S. Prevalence and clinical significance of gliadin antibodies in healthy children and adults. Scand J Gastroenterol 1994;29:248-254.Coeliac disease (CD) is associated with the presence of gliadin antibodies (GA) (IgG and IgA), often used as a screening test for CD. Using a modified micro-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for GA, we studied the prevalence of GA in three healthy groups: children (mean age, 12 years), adult blood donors (mean age, 38 years), and healthy women (mean age, 57 years). We also studied the clinical characteristics of the blood donors. On the basis of findings in 27 untreated CD patients, cut-off levels of IgG and IgA antibody titres were chosen to yield a test with relatively low sensitivity (56%) but high specificity (100%). Analysis of IgM antibodies did not improve the sensitivity. Of the 384 12-year-old children, both IgG and IgA GA positivity was found in 15 (3.91%), a rate significantly greater than that in the blood donor...