THE INCIDENCE OF CELIAC-DISEASE AND PYLORIC-STENOSIS IN CHILDREN IN NORTHERN FINLAND

  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 14  (3) , 123-128
Abstract
The incidences of symptomatic celiac disease (CD) and pyloric stenosis (PS) in children born 1960-1979 were studied retrospectively in Northern Finland. The total incidence of CD was 42.3, and of PS 122.7/100,000 live births. The figure for CD was lower than in studies from other industrial countries during the same period. The incidence of CD was highest in the early 1970s, and has decreased significantly, at least in children under 2 yr of age, during the late 1970s. In the city of Oulu the incidence of CD was significantly higher than that in the surrounding countryside. Active search, with small intestinal biopsies, should reveal over 90% of cases with CD before the age of 2 yr. Of 78 children diagnosed as having CD during the observation period, 75% were breast-fed for < 3 mo., 18% had signs of allergy at the time of diagnosis and 7% had IgA deficiency. In 4 patients CD was associated with diabetes. The incidence of PS varied from 107/100,000 live births in the early 1960s to 153/100,000 in the late 1960s. No significant seasonal variance was observed in the analysis of 226 children with PS in the study.