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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2001;286:1167.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Overall mortality rates for adults with celiac disease are twice those of the general population, but early diagnosis and strict adherence to a gluten-free diet can help prevent early death, according to a multicenter study by Italian investigators, reported in the August 4 issue of Lancet.

The prospective cohort study involved 1072 adult patients with celiac disease consecutively diagnosed between 1962 and 1994. By the end of 1998, 53 patients died, more than twice the expected number of deaths, with non-Hodgkin lymphoma the main cause of death.

The researchers noted that a significant excess of deaths occurred during the first 3 years after diagnosis of celiac disease and in patients with malabsorption symptoms. They also discovered that the ratio of patient deaths to expected deaths increased with longer delays in diagnosis and in patients who did not strictly adhere to a gluten-free diet.

"Prompt and strict . . . [Full Text of this Article]