Celiac disease (CD) goes undiagnosed in many adult and paediatric patients for a long time. In Central Europe, we investigated CD knowledge among healthcare professionals (HCPs) and CD patients (CE). HCPs and CD patients from five CE nations were asked to fill out a web-based CD questionnaire. The questions were broken down into parts on epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnostics, treatment, and follow-up. The achieved scores of various professionals managing CD patients were compared, and geographical disparities in patient knowledge were investigated. Pediatric gastroenterologists received the highest scores. There were considerable disparities in patient knowledge between CE areas, with German participants rating the highest. Members of CD societies performed better than nonmembers, and patients diagnosed less than 5 years ago performed better than those diagnosed more than 10 years ago.
The level of information on CD among HCPs and CD patients is deplorable. More awareness-raising and learning initiatives are required to improve HCPs’ understanding and reduce the number of unidentified patients and avoidable diagnosis delays. To achieve increased compliance with the glut, patients should be better informed about their ailment.
Reference: https://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Abstract/2021/04000/The_Knowledge_About_Celiac_Disease_Among.15.aspx
