Testing At What Age?

[Erika-mommaof2]

Hi...I just got diagnosed with celiacs disease a couple weeks ago, and now I'm worried that my daughters might have it as well. I have an almost 3 year old and a 1 year old. Are they too young to test for the condition?

my youngest has a severe dairy allergy and can only have soy products. Both girls have upset intestinal issues off and on....just worried about them being malnurished or something.

[happygirl]

All Celiac experts recommend that all first degree relatives, regardless of presence or absence of symptoms, are screened for Celiac. Parents, siblings, children.

Since one of your kids is 3 years old, the testing is more reliable. Age 2 and under is more of a concern.....but it couldn't hurt to run it on the younger one as well, and monitor them.

Make sure the FULL Celiac panel is run on your child. Doctors often only run parts of it, but its important to have the full panel run. Open Original Shared Link

Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG

Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA

Total IgA level.

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Q: Why do my family members need to be screened for celiac disease?

When the diagnosis is established in one family member, their first- degree relatives (parents, siblings and children) should have blood tests for celiac disease. This is because at least 10% of family members will have the disease, even if they are asymptomatic. Screening is also recommended for second-degree relatives (grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins) as they are also at an increased risk for celiac disease. Family members who already have an autoimmune disease are at a greatly increased risk to have celiac disease (25%).

The reasons to diagnose family members prior to the development of symptoms include the prevention autoimmune diseases and malignancy.

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Q: My doctor wants to screen our entire family for celiac disease? Is that really necessary?

Yes, every family member should be screened with a blood test that measures serum antibodies for celiac disease because there is an increased risk of celiac disease in family members, including those that are totally asymptomatic. One of the main reasons to screen asymptomatic children is to prevent the development of autoimmune diseases. Frequently asymptomatic children with celiac disease have autoantibodies to various organs such as antibodies that predict the development of thyroid problems or diabetes. When celiac disease is diagnosed in these children and a gluten-free diet is commenced the antibodies that predict the development of these diseases disappear from the blood. It appears that early diagnosis of celiac disease can prevent these other diseases that occur commonly in people with celiac disease. Early diagnosis can prevent the occurrence of symptoms due to celiac disease such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. The risk of malignancy in adulthood seems so far off, so many years away. However the diagnosis and treatment of a child dramatically reduces the risk of that individual getting cancer or lymphoma in adulthood! Screening should be with a panel of blood tests and the testing should be performed every 3 to 5 years because individuals can acquire celiac disease at any time in their life. If a family member has symptoms additional testing may be necessary, such as an intestinal biopsy even if serologies are negative. This is especially true if the family members are not ingesting much gluten, because a reduced gluten intake can result in loss of serum antibodies while the intestinal lesion remains affected. Many parents are ambivalent about screening their children because they do not want to deprive them of a pizza or donuts. Unfortunately, these fast foods are a social norm for American children. The long term health benefits to the children should however outweigh the social pressure of the "fast food culture" of the USA.

[vanillazeis]

Agreed with happygirl! Just wanted to add that My GI dr. said on my 9 month old that we'll wait until he's 12 months, introduce gluten and then test him at 18 months. So i'm assuming that it's necessary for your one year old to be on gluten for atleast 6 months. Also he told me that celiac disease can just show up on a family member without any previous history of celiac in the family. He said my daughters kiddos are way more likely to have celiac than me and my husband (although we are being tested) so i guess your kiddos are pretty likely to have it. that's just my doctors opinion. unfortunately i dont think anyone actually "knows" anything about this disease for sure. I would test them asap! good luck!

[Erika-mommaof2]

Thank you so much. My 3 yr old goes in the beginning of Dec for her checkup and what not. Wanted to get her tested for environmental allergies at that time too....guess they'll be doing all sorts of fun stuff. BLAH! Glad we've got insurance. LOL

My youngest I'm pretty concerned with....she got horrible digestion issues. Thought it was just b/c of her Dairy allergy, but now I'm not so sure.

My folks are going in to get tested this month. My Mom seems to think that she's the carrier of this. I told her you'd better hope not b/c then you won't be able to eat all the breads you like so much. LOL She wasn't too thrilled with that prospect, but whatever makes ya feel better ya know!