Prevalence of coeliac disease in Omani adults with iron deficiency anaemia of unknown : cause case-finding study

Abstract EN

Objectives : This study aimed to estimate the serological prevalence of coeliac disease in patients with iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) of unknown cause at a primary healthcare facility in Oman.

Methods : This prospective case-finding study was conducted at the primary care clinics in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman from September 2018 to June 2020.

Patients aged 18 to 55 years, with a haemoglobin (Hb) level <11.5 g/dL for males and <11.0 g/dL for females and a ferritin level <30 ng/mL for males and <13 ng/mL for females, were included in the study.

Blood samples were obtained for initial serological screening using serum immunoglobulin (Ig)A level; those samples with normal levels of IgA, IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTG) and IgA anti-deamidated gliadin peptide (DGP) were determined.

Positive IgA-tTG test was confirmed using IgA-endomysial antibodies.

Patients with low IgA levels were tested using IgG-tTG and IgG-DGP.

Results : A total of 104 patients participated in this study.

Eight patients (7.7%) were found to have a positive serological screening result for coeliac disease; of these patients, three (37.5%) had a positive IgA-tTG result.

Two of those three (66.7%) had a positive IgA-endomysial antibody.

The IgA-DGP result was positive in seven (6.7%) of the 104 patients.

Out of those seven patients, two also had a positive IgA tTG.

Conclusion : Coeliac disease is not a rare disorder.

There is a need to increase awareness among healthcare professionals about coeliac disease and its non-classical manifestations such as IDA.