[Celiac disease and short stature in children].

Celiac disease (CD) is a known cause of short stature and sometimes, this is its only symptom. The aim of this work was to determine the incidence of CD in children with short stature. We studied 178 infants with short stature and with no gastrointestinal symptoms. Serum IgA antigliadin antibodies were determined in all of them. We found a pathological titer in ten of these patients. Peroral intestinal biopsy was performed on these children, with nine showing no alterations and only one having subtotal villus atrophy that was compatible with CD. Therefore, the incidence of CD in this population is about 0.56%, which is much lower than the incidence shown by other authors.