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Meta-Analysis
. 2015 May 5;10(5):e0124040.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124040. eCollection 2015.

Prevalence of celiac disease in latin america: a systematic review and meta-regression

Rafael Parra-Medina  1 , Nicolás Molano-Gonzalez  1 , Adriana Rojas-Villarraga  1 , Nancy Agmon-Levin  2 , Maria-Teresa Arango  3 , Yehuda Shoenfeld  4 , Juan-Manuel Anaya  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence of celiac disease in latin america: a systematic review and meta-regression

Rafael Parra-Medina et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by the ingestion of gluten in susceptible individuals, and its prevalence varies depending on the studied population. Given that information on CD in Latin America is scarce, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of CD in this region of the world through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods and findings: This was a two-phase study. First, a cross-sectional analysis from 981 individuals of the Colombian population was made. Second, a systematic review and meta-regression analysis were performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Meta- Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Our results disclosed a lack of celiac autoimmunity in the studied Colombian population (i.e., anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and IgA anti-endomysium (EMA)). In the systematic review, 72 studies were considered. The estimated prevalence of CD in Latin Americans ranged between 0.46% and 0.64%. The prevalence of CD in first-degree relatives of CD probands was 5.5%. The coexistence of CD and type 1 diabetes mellitus varied from 4.6% to 8.7%, depending on the diagnosis methods (i.e., autoantibodies and/or biopsies).

Conclusions: Although CD seems to be a rare condition in Colombians; the general prevalence of the disease in Latin Americans seemingly corresponds to a similar scenario observed in Europeans.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow chart of the systemic literature review.
VHL: virtual health library. CD: Celiac disease. LA: Latin America.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Boxplot of the prevalence of the disease for each population using the model for tTG and EMA protocol.
Population: A: Healthy individuals; B: First-degree relatives of CD patients; C: T1DM patients; D: Patients with other ADs; E: Patients with other conditions.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Boxplot of the prevalence of the disease for each population using the model for autoantibodies positive and biopsy positive.
Population: A: Healthy individuals; B: First-degree relatives of CD patients; C: T1DM patients; D: Patients with other ADs; E: Patients with other conditions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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