Improving the diagnostic approach to celiac disease: Experience from a regional network

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is still underestimated. To close this diagnostic gap, the Health Sicilian Authorities have constituted the "Sicilian Network for CD". Aims: A) To verify the quality of the current diagnostic approach using the data sheet of the Network. B) To evaluate the clinical, serologic and histologic data of new diagnoses in the context of the Network METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the data collection forms of 369 patients with CD from three Centers within the Sicilian Network. All the Centers used a standard data collection form. Results: A non-classical CD presentation was more frequent than the classical one, anemia being the most frequent symptom (50%). An I…