ROCHESTER, Minn—Celiac disease is more common than it was 45 years ago, according to a study from the Mayo Clinic. The study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, analyzed the blood tests of 9,133 healthy young adults at Warren Air Force Base taken between 1948 and 1954, as well as the blood samples from 12,768 gender-matched subjects from two recent groups from Olmsted County, Minn. Researchers compared the blood samples from both time periods and found 14 (0.2 percent) of the Warren group had undiagnosed Celiac disease, while almost 1 percent of those tested in the recent time had the undiagnosed disease.
Researchers also found the mortality rate of the subjects undiagnosed with Celiac disease in the Warren group was greater than those that did not have the disease.