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Dietary compliance and life style of children with coeliac disease
Author(s) -
Roma E.,
Roubani A.,
Kolia E.,
Panayiotou J.,
Zellos A.,
Syriopoulou V. P.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of human nutrition and dietetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1365-277X
pISSN - 0952-3871
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-277x.2009.01036.x
Subject(s) - medicine , coeliac disease , interquartile range , asymptomatic , quality of life (healthcare) , disease , gluten , pediatrics , family medicine , environmental health , nursing , pathology
Background: Coeliac disease (CD) is common and requires a permanent strict gluten‐free diet (GFD). However, data concerning how the situation is experienced by children are limited. The present study aimed to investigate the compliance with a GFD and the impact of CD and GFD on the lifestyle of patients and their families, together with proposed recommendations for improvement of quality of life. Methods: Children with biopsy confirmed CD were recruited consecutively from the outpatient gastroenterology clinic. Participants were evaluated by a special questionnaire for compliance with the GFD, patients’ knowledge about CD, and the well‐being and lifestyle of children and their families. Comparisons between discrete variables were performed by a chi‐square test. Results: Seventy‐three children of median age 9.4 (interquartile range = 5–14.5) years were evaluated. Compliance to diet was reported by 58%. Reasons for noncompliance were: poor palatability (32%), dining outside home (17%), poor availability of products (11%), and asymptomatic disease diagnosed by screening (11%). The acceptance of the GFD was reported as good in 65%, whereas avoidance of travelling and restaurants was stated by 17% and 46% of families, respectively. Most families experienced difficulties detecting gluten from the food label. Proposed factors for improvement of quality of life were: better labelling of gluten‐containing ingredients (76%) and more gluten‐free (GF) foods in supermarkets (58%) and restaurants (42%). Conclusions: Children with CD have low compliance with the GFD. Better education about the disease, the availability of GF products, and appropriate food labelling could improve compliance and quality of life.