Celiac Disease Among Children With Failure To Thrive

to thrive is a common problem in infancy and childhood. It is most often multifactorial in origin. Inadequate nutrition and disturbed social interactions contribute to poor weight gain, delayed development, and abnormal behavior. Celiac disease (CD) is one of the most common chronic diseases encountered in the Western world with a serological prevalence of approximately 1%. Since it is so common, much comorbidity will occur either as associations or simply by chance, or as complications of the disorder. The determination of anti-transglutaminase (TTG) antibodies (Ab) is considered a sensitive tool for detecting the different forms of CD. Aims of the study: to diagnose celiac disease (CD) and to determine its percentage in children presenting with failure to thrive. Methods: 80 children presenting to pediatric hospital - Zagazig University, 60 cases had failure to thrive without an obvious cause and 20 cases were control. The diagnostic test was serum anti-TTG IgA Ab. Samples showing normal IgA level (to rule out IgA deficiency). Small intestinal biopsy was recommended to subjects showing IgA anti-TTG positivity. Results: Two patients (3.3%) showed had positive anti-TTG and then duodeno-jejunal biopsies revealed Marsh stage I and main presenting symptoms to be failure to thrive.Conclusion: These results indicate that CD is present in our country but undiagnosed and not be oriented.Key words: Failure to thrive, celiac disease, gluten, children.Failure.