Health related quality of life among Saudi children and adolescents with celiac disease.

BACKGROUND/

aimsCeliac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by gluten ingestion in genetically susceptible individuals. This study reports on the quality of life (QOL) of Saudi children and adolescents with CD. PATIENTS AND

methodsThis is a case control study that included Saudi patients with CD, aged 9-18 years, who attended CD Clinic at KAU between February 2017 and July 2018. The study was conducted using the Short-Form (SF-36) questionnaire for all candidates, CD-specific QOL questionnaire for the CD patients group, and CD screen questionnaire for the control group.

resultsOverall, 354 subjects were studied (111 CD patients and 243 control). Female subjects constituted 56.8% of both patient and control groups. In the generic SF-36 questionnaire, QOL was comparable between patients and controls in all domains except for the general health domain, which showed difference in favor of the controls (55.01 ± 26.41 and 62.96 ± 18.16, P = 0.005). We also found that males have lower QOL scores in the domains comprising health change (P = 0.02), physical functioning (P = 0.04, role functioning/emotional and emotional well-being (P = 0.049). The CD-specific QOL showed excellent and good scores for 79.3% of patients overall in the tested domains. Patients with poor adherence showed poor QOL in all generic (SF-36) domains but not in CD-specific domains.

conclusionThe HRQOL for Saudi CD children on GFD is generally comparable to the healthy control with exception of the general health domain. Adherence to the GFD improves the generic (SF-36) QOL domains.