Seroepidemiology of celiac disease among blood donor in Golestan province

Background&Objective: Celiac is a digestive disease. In this disease, small bowel is damaged and the absorption of nutrients are adversely affected. These patients do not absorb gluten. There is probably a correlation between esophagus cancer and celiac. The aim of this research was to study the seroepidemiology celiac disease in this area with high prevalency of esophagus cancer. Materials&Methods: This research was a descriptive study, which was performed on blood donors in Golestan province during the year 2005-06. blood samples were taken from 2547 subjects. tTG-IgA determination were carried out using ElISA technique, the titre10Um/l were considered to be as negative, weakly positive and positive respectively. EMA antibody assessment were carried out on all sample population with more than 4U/ml, using IFA method. Results: 28 subjects (1.1%) had tTG-Ab positive test, out of this number 18 subjects (0.7%) were weakly positive and 10 persons (0.4%) were considered to be positive. EMA test were positive in 70% of subjects with tTG positive results. There was not any significant meaning between positive tTG test and ethnicity from weakly positive tTG, 15 subjects (83.3%) and 3 subjects (16.7%) were male and female respectively. The entire tTG positive were male subjects. Conclusion: In regard to high prevalency of esophagus cancer in the region and the relation of celiac disease with above cancer, it seems necessary to look more seriously at the celiac disease.