Use of health care services and pharmaceutical agents in coeliac disease: a prospective nationwide study

BMC Gastroenterology

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the coeliac disease study group

	All	Female	Male
	n = 700	n = 534 (76% )	n = 166 (24% )
Median age (range), years	49 (16–84)	48 (16–84)	53 (16–83)
Clinical presentation, %
Gastrointestinal symptoms and signs	70	70	70
Extraintestinal symptoms	9	8	12
Detected by screening^*	21	22	18
Duration of symptoms
Median (range), years	3 (0–59)	3 (0–51)	2 (0–59)
25-75th percentile	1-7	1-7	1-5
OEGD at diagnosis, %	100	100	100
OEGD prior to diagnosis of CD, % ^*	21	19	27
Diagnosis was established in, %
Primary health care	52	55	42
Secondary health care	38	36	44
Tertiary health care	10	9	14

OEGD oesphago-gastroduodenoscopy.
CD coeliac disease.
^* Screening performed because of patients belonged to a risk group (first-degree relatives of coeliac disease patients, those with type 1 diabetes mellitus, autoimmune thyroid disease, Sjögren’s syndrome and IgA deficiency).
^† Other than the oesphago-gastroduodenoscopy by which the diagnosis of coeliac disease was confirmed.

ISSN: 1471-230X