Review article: coeliac disease in later life must not be missed.

Background: The presenting symptoms of coeliac disease are often subtle and the diagnosis is frequently delayed or overlooked. Therefore, especially elderly patients may be denied the benefits conferred by gluten free diet which can be dramatically life-changing.

Aim: To review the occurrence, clinical features, diagnosis and management in coeliac patients detected later in life.

Clinical benefit of gluten-free diet in screen-detected older celiac disease patients.

Background: The utility of serologic screening for celiac disease is still debatable. Evidence suggests that the disorder remains undetected even in the older population. It remains obscure whether screening makes good or harm in subjects with long-standing gluten ingestion.

Increasing prevalence and high incidence of celiac disease in elderly people: a population-based study.

Background: Celiac disease may emerge at any age, but little is known of its appearance in elderly people. We evaluated the prevalence of the condition in individuals over 55 years of age, and determined the incidence of biopsy-proven celiac disease (CDb) and celiac disease including seropositive subjects for anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (CDb+s).

Methods: The study based on prevalence figures in 2815 randomly selected subjects who had undergone a clinical examination and serologic screening for celiac disease in 2002.

Undetected coeliac disease in the elderly: a biopsy-proven population-based study.

Background: Up to 1% of the population suffer from coeliac disease. Data on the prevalence in elderly people is scant. We hypothesized that they would over time have developed obvious symptoms.