Prevalence of Celiac Disease among Symptom-free Children from The Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

Background/Aim:Epidemiological studies of celiac disease (CD) among Saudi children have been performed only within some groups who are at a high risk of developing CD. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of CD among symptom-free children from the public schools of the military campus of National Guard in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.Results:Of the 1141 participants, 32 were IgA-tTG positive. Thus, the estimated serology-positive prevalence was 3%. An intestinal biopsy was performed in 10 of the participants with antibody positivity. The biopsy findings of all 10 children were consistent with CD. Thus, the estimated biopsy-confirmed prevalence was about 1%.Conclusions:The prevalence of CD was estimated to be about 1% among symptom-free children from the public schools of the military campus of National Guard in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.