TY - JOUR
T1 - A gluten-free diet score to evaluate dietary compliance in patients with coeliac disease
AU - Biagi, Federico
AU - Andrealli, Alida
AU - Bianchi, Paola Ilaria
AU - Marchese, Alessandra
AU - Klersy, Catherine
AU - Corazza, Gino Roberto
PY - 2009/9
Y1 - 2009/9
N2 - A dietary interview performed by expert personnel is considered to be the most appropriate tool to check whether patients with coeliac disease follow a strict gluten-free diet. However, we currently have no straightforward and non-subjective method for performing such a dietary interview. We therefore developed a fast questionnaire based on four simple questions with a five-level score (0-IV). To verify whether our questionnaire is an efficient tool, we applied it to 168 coeliac patients (126 females and 42 males; mean age 42.4 (sd 12.9) years) on a gluten-free diet (median 82, 25th-75th percentile 50-108, range 15-389 months). The score we obtained was compared with the persistence of both villous atrophy and endomysial antibodies while on a gluten-free diet. A comparison with survival of the patients was also performed. Patients were interviewed over the phone by non-expert personnel. The questionnaire was completed in less than 1min. The lowest results were significantly more frequent among the patients with a persistence of both villous atrophy and positive endomysial antibodies. Death risk was also significantly correlated with the lowest score results. We conclude that our questionnaire is a reliable and simple method of verifying compliance with a gluten-free diet.
AB - A dietary interview performed by expert personnel is considered to be the most appropriate tool to check whether patients with coeliac disease follow a strict gluten-free diet. However, we currently have no straightforward and non-subjective method for performing such a dietary interview. We therefore developed a fast questionnaire based on four simple questions with a five-level score (0-IV). To verify whether our questionnaire is an efficient tool, we applied it to 168 coeliac patients (126 females and 42 males; mean age 42.4 (sd 12.9) years) on a gluten-free diet (median 82, 25th-75th percentile 50-108, range 15-389 months). The score we obtained was compared with the persistence of both villous atrophy and endomysial antibodies while on a gluten-free diet. A comparison with survival of the patients was also performed. Patients were interviewed over the phone by non-expert personnel. The questionnaire was completed in less than 1min. The lowest results were significantly more frequent among the patients with a persistence of both villous atrophy and positive endomysial antibodies. Death risk was also significantly correlated with the lowest score results. We conclude that our questionnaire is a reliable and simple method of verifying compliance with a gluten-free diet.
KW - Coeliac disease
KW - Dietary compliance
KW - Endomysial antibodies
KW - Gluten-free diet
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U2 - 10.1017/S0007114509301579
DO - 10.1017/S0007114509301579
M3 - Article
C2 - 19331704
AN - SCOPUS:70449732307
VL - 102
SP - 882
EP - 887
JO - British Journal of Nutrition
JF - British Journal of Nutrition
SN - 0007-1145
IS - 6
ER -