to evaluate efficacy of gluten free regimen for improvement of quality of life (QOL) among patients with Celiac Disease (CD)

in this cross sectional study, the QOL of CD patients who have registered in celiac society of Khuzestan province, evaluated and compared before and after at least 1 year since commencing gluten free regimen by using QOL SF-36 questionnaire.

Overall, 200 CD patients (66 male, 134 female) evaluated. Average age of male and female participants were 26.3 & 30.34 y respectively (61% between 20 and 60 y old). After gluten free regimen, Complains such as bloating (P= 0.001), abdominal pain (P= 0.001), diarrhea (P= 0.001), nausea (P= 0.001), vomiting (P= 0.03), reflux and regurgitation (P= 0.025), anorexia (P= 0.001), fatigue (P= 0.001), headache (P= 0.008), oral aphthous lesions (P= 0.014), weight loss (P= 0.001) and bone pain (P= 0.005) significantly improved while other symptoms such as muscular pain (P= 0.157), dermatitis (P= 0.083) and numbness (P= 0.317) did not show any major improvement. Average score of QOL before and after gluten free regimen were 0.74 & 3.41 respectively which demonstrated significant improvement (P= 0.001). This improvement was even seen among cases with sub optimal compliance (average QOL score 3.28, P=0.001).

gluten free regimen could significantly improve QOL of patients with celiac disease and they should encouraged to as much as possible be committed to this regimen.