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Sealing The Diagnosis Of Celiac Disease In Pregnancy, Ritu Nahar, Md, Avani Aman, Md

The Medicine Forum

Introduction

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune mediated condition that results from a reaction to dietary gluten and primarily affects the small intestine. Genetically predisposed individuals develop a chronic inflammatory state of the small intestine which leads to malabsorption. The disease is mediated by HLA DQ2 or DQ8 haplotypes, which bind the gliadin peptides of gluten, present the peptides to CD4+ T lymphocytes and trigger cytokine and B lymphocyte responses.1

The prevalence of CD in the United States is approximately 1% and can reach up to 4-5% in at-risk groups.2 Serologic study of asymptomatic elderly patients in the United Kingdom …