03 Mar Growth Screening Facilitates Early Diagnosis of Celiac Disease in Children
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Antti Saari, M.D.
Department of Pediatrics
University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital
Kuopio Finland
MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Saari: Growth monitoring is a fundamental part of the preventive child healthcare. It aims at early detection of growth disorders in children. Systematic growth monitoring has been shown to facilitate early detection of Turner Syndrome, but however, evidence-based cut-off limits for other growth disorders, e.g. celiac disease, are practically lacking.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings?
Dr. Saari: The main finding of our study was that systematic population based screening of linear growth would facilitate early diagnosis of celiac disease in children. Faltering linear growth might be the earliest sign of symptomless celiac disease.
MedicalResearch: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Saari: Systematic growth monitoring is not only effective for early detection of celiac disease, but also in growth disorders in general.
MedicalResearch What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Saari: Evidence-based cut-off limits for growth monitoring have been found effective in retrospective setting. However, prospective studies are practically lacking.
Citation:
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Antti Saari, M.D. (2015). Growth Screening Facilitates Early Diagnosis of Celiac Disease in ChildrenÂ
[wysija_form id=”2″]
Last Updated on March 4, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD