Professor El-Omar has selected Dr Ina Lervåg Andersen M.D. from the HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Levanger, Norway to do the next #GUTBlog.

The #GUTBlog focusses on the paper “Serological screening for coeliac disease in an adult general population: the HUNT study” which was published in paper copy in GUT in June 2025.  Dr Andersen is the first author on this paper.

Dr Ina Lervåg Andersen writes:

“Can we diagnose coeliac disease with a simple blood test?

Coeliac disease is a common disease that affects about 1% of the world’s population. Amongst individuals with coeliac disease, the ingestion of gluten causes an inflammation in the small intestine that can cause a wide range of troublesome symptoms, including diarrhea, obstipation, bloating, headaches, rashes, malnutrition, and failure of growth.

Coeliac disease is underdiagnosed and commonly the diagnosis is delayed by several years. To diagnose coeliac disease, adults must go through a gastroscopy with tissue samples from the small intestine. This is a procedure where a thin, flexible tube with a camera is inserted through the mouth, gullet, stomach, and the upper part of the small intestine. A gastroscopy can be a strain for the patient, can cause complications, and is also expensive and resource demanding.

Could it be an easier way to find coeliac disease? We wanted to find out if a screening test for coeliac disease were accurate enough to be used in clinical practice.

To answer this question, we collected blood samples of 56,042 participants from the fourth Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4), a population-based study performed 2017-2019 in Nord-Trøndelag County, Norway. The blood samples were analyzed for coeliac disease and participants with a positive test were invited to a gastroscopy with tissue samples to confirm the diagnosis.

We then compared the results of the blood test with the results of the tissue samples. The results showed that the blood test was very accurate in finding those with coeliac disease. Most of the participants with a positive blood test actually had coeliac disease when we compared to the results of tissue samples.

Our results show that the blood test has excellent abilities as a screening tool for coeliac disease in the adult general population.

These results can help us diagnose coeliac disease at an earlier stage to prevent patients going for years with symptoms. Furthermore, the results also show that some adult patients can be diagnosed with coeliac disease without going through a gastroscopy.”

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