Gluten-Free Diet and Quality of Life in Patients with Screen-Detected

CONTEXT. Since the advent of serologic testing for celiac disease, most persons who receive a diagnosis of celiac disease have few or no symptoms. Although pathologic changes of celiac disease resolve on a gluten-free diet, how a gluten-free diet affects the quality of life for patients with screen-detected celiac disease is unclear. OBJECTIVE. To evaluate the effect of a gluten-free diet on the quality of life of patients with screen-detected celiac disease. DESIGN. Prospective study of patients before and 1 year after initiating a gluten-free diet. PARTICIPANTS. 19 patients with screen-detected celiac disease (found by serologically testing first-degree relatives of celiac patients) and 21 consecutive patients with symptom-detected disease. In all cases, celiac diagnosis was confirmed by finding vil-lous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia on small-bowel biopsy. INTERVENTION. Gluten-free diet (explained during a single physician visit). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES. Gastrointestinal Symptoms Rating Scale (GSRS), in which scores range from 0 to 6 (higher scores represent worse symptoms); and quality of life measured with the Psychological General Well-Being Questionnaire (PGWB)