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Brief report: Physician awareness of celiac disease

A need for further education

  • Original Article
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Celiac disease is a common disorder (up to 0.7%); however, it is uncommonly diagnosed in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine physician awareness of celiac disease.

DESIGN: Surveys completed by 2,440 (47%) of 5,191 patients in a support group were analyzed for frequency of diagnosis by physician specialties. Questionnaires were then sent to primary care physicians (PCPs) (n=132) in a southern California county to assess knowledge of celiac disease.

RESULTS: In patient surveys, only 11% were diagnosed by PCPs (internists and family physicians) versus 65% by gastroenterologists. Physician surveys (70% response) showed that only 35% of PCPs had ever diagnosed celiac disease. Almost all physicians (95%) knew of wheat intolerance, but few (32%) knew that onset of symptoms in adulthood is common. Physicians were well aware (90%) of diarrhea as a symptom, but fewer knew of common symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (71%), chronic abdominal pain (67%), fatigue (54%), depression and irritability (24%) or of associations with diabetes (13%), anemia (45%) or osteoporosis (45%), or of diagnosis by endomysial antibody tests (44%).

CONCLUSIONS: Lack of physician awareness of adult onset of symptoms, associated disorders, and use of serology testing may contribute to the underdiagnosis of celiac disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif, USA

    Robert D. Zipser MD

  2. West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital, Calif, USA

    Mary Farid DO

  3. The Celiac Disease Foundation, Studio City, Calif, USA

    Donald Baisch, Bhairavi Patel MD & Devika Patel

Authors
  1. Robert D. Zipser MD
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  2. Mary Farid DO
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  3. Donald Baisch
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  4. Bhairavi Patel MD
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  5. Devika Patel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert D. Zipser MD.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

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Zipser, R.D., Farid, M., Baisch, D. et al. Brief report: Physician awareness of celiac disease. J GEN INTERN MED 20, 644–646 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-005-0111-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-005-0111-7

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