Pondostatural evolution in patients with Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is a permanent intolerance to gluten , in which genetic, environmental and immunologic factors are implicated. Still there are doubts about the exact pathogenesis. A variable failure to thrive is a dominant feature. Removal of gluten from the diet leads to clinical remission and catch-up of weight and height. In this study we realize a follow-up of growth y weight patterns of 14 celiac patients, from birth up to 12 months after instauration of gluten free diet (GFD). We observe a low weight and normal size at birth; the introduction of gluten produces a mean decrease of 0.11 scores of standard desviation (SDS) of weight and a loss of 0.23 SDS of height. Weight catch-up was already significant after 3 months of GFD, while the percentiles of height did not initiate revovery until 3 months after the elimination of gluten. After a year of GFD mean weight gain is 1.16 SDS and the mean height gain is 0.60 SDS. We related the catch-up with the age at diagnosis and evaluated the weight/height ratio and the major growth velocity.