The prevalence of
dyspepsia is up to 40% in population-based study. Functional
dyspepsia is an exclusion diagnosis and it is classified as a chronic
abdominal pain-related functional disorder, characterized by the presence of persistent or recurrent
pain or discomfort centered in the upper abdomen, neither relief by defecation, nor association with the onset of a change in stool frequency or form.
Celiac disease (CD) is a common
autoimmune enteropathy, with a prevalence around 1% in the general population. Its diagnosis includes a serological screening and an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with multiple biopsies.
Gluten-free diet is the only effective treatment. CD diagnosis is often delayed in asymptomatic patients or in individuals with less clinical gastrointestinal symptoms. Several studies performed coeliac disease screening in patients with symptoms suggestive of
dyspepsia, showing a biopsy-proved prevalence that ranged from 0.5% to 2%. The typical endoscopic markers of villous
atrophy are not sufficiently sensitive, so some endoscopic techniques, such as "water immersion" and confocal endomicroscopy were proposed to improve the diagnostic sensitivity and target biopsies. A recent meta-analysis estimated that the prevalence of CD was higher in patients with
dyspepsia, but not in a statistically significant way. However this assumption should be confirmed further larger studies.