The Challenge of Treatment in Potential Celiac Disease

TABLE 2

Results of available evidence in support or against GFD in PCD asymptomatic patients.

Study	About GFD	Study population	Conclusions	Limitations
Tosco et al. [25]	Against GFD	106 children	33% of incidence of villous atrophy after 3 years in with PCD	Unknown number of patients lost at follow-up
Lionetti et al. [44]	Against GFD	24 asymptomatic children	CD markers disappear in most young children with potential CD despite a regular diet	Small sample size
Silvester et al. [45]	Against GFD	Review paper	In the absence of symptoms or villous atrophy, treatment with a GFD does not appear to be necessary in most cases	N/A
Mandile et al. [41]	Against GFD	47 children	Association between CD and irritable bowel syndrome may be a significant confounding factor	Irritable bowel syndrome is overlapping with CD
Lionetti et al. [43]	Against GFD	23 asymptomatic children	Risk of progression to overt CD while on a gluten-containing diet is very low in the long-term.	Age of the study group and study design
Kurppa et al. [38]	Supports GFD	23 adults	Patients with endomysial antibodies benefit from a GFD regardless of the degree of enteropathy.	Marsh II included in study population
Kurppa et al. [39]	Supports GFD	17 children	Children benefit from early treatment despite normal mucosal structure	Small sample size