Pharmacists may improve coeliac disease diagnosis rates

During Coeliac Awareness Week 2010 (13-20 March), Dr Bob Anderson, chairman of the Coeliac Research Fund, has recommended that pharmacists look out for symptoms of the disease in their customers, and recommend appropriate medical testing for those suspected to have the condition. This may be one way of improving the rates of diagnosis of coeliac disease in Australia.

Dr Anderson maintains that if a pharmacist has patients who are regularly taking iron supplements, folate, laxatives, or multivitamins because they're constantly tired, it could be because they have coeliac disease. Symptoms of the condition include unexplained bloating, diarrhoea and/or constipation, tiredness or lack of stamina, anaemia, slow growth in children, poor physical development and difficulty in concentrating.

This year, Coeliac Awareness Week focused on improving the current low diagnosis rates in children throughout Australia. Experts estimate that at least 1 in 100 children suffer from coeliac disease but four out of five are not diagnosed. Associate Professor Don Cameron, head of paediatric gastroenterology at Monash Children's at Southern Heath said that coeliac disease typically starts in childhood between the ages of four and seven years old, although symptoms can present at any age.

Coeliac disease in children is nearly twice as prevalent as type 1 diabetes and 25 times more common than cystic fibrosis, yet it remains one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in Australia and in many other countries around the world.

Professor Cameron encouraged parents not to diagnose their children themselves and not to eliminate gluten from their diet without medical advice. Coeliac disease is a serious condition and parents need to learn how to manage their children's diet properly under qualified medical supervision.

For more information about the messages presented during Coeliac Awareness Week 2010, please see the Coeliac Society website.