The Incidence of Coeliac Disease in Children in Switzerland

In the pediatric hospitals and clinics of Zurich, St. Gallen, Winterthur, Aarau and Lucerne, 488 cases of coeliac disease have been found in children born between 1960 and 1978. The diagnosis was established clinically and confirmed by intestinal biopsy in each case. The data of coeliac patients diagnosed before 1966 and after 1975 has proven to be unreliable for statistical evaluation and were omitted from our calculations. During the years 1966-1975, 354 patients with confirmed coeliac disease and 412733 live births were registered. This corresponds, for the symptomatic coeliac disease, to an incidence of 1:1165 in the Northeastern part of Switzerland. A statistical analysis of the data confirmed its validity and the lack of trends during the period of study.