Until The 1970s, celiac disease (CeD) was considered to be an uncommon disease except for in western Europe, the global epidemiology of CeD now continues to evolve with improvement in the diagnostic tests, simplification of the diagnostic criteria and increase in awareness about the disease. Celiac disease is now a global disease and 0.7% of the world population is estimated to have CeD. While there is a global burden of 37 million to 59 million patients, current studies estimate that in most populations, over 80% of people with CeD remain undiagnosed. The Asian region is currently at the crossroads of the frontier of knowledge and awareness of CeD. In many Asian nations, CeD is still considered to be either non-existent or very rare. A notable exception is India, where CeD has been well recognized. In a pan-India population-based study, including 23,000 subjects, we have shown that about 6-8 million Indians have celiac disease and a vast majority of them remain undiagnosed. Initial reports from Malaysia, China, Japan and Singapore suggest the existence of CeD in these countries. A meta-analysis of studies published from Asia, suggest that 0.6% of Asians have CeD. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of the predisposing factors predicts a high probability of occurrence of CeD in fair numbers in China. There are no formal reports on CeD from Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan and many other nations in this region. It is thus appropriate that the medical community across Asia define the extent of the problem and get prepared to handle an impending epidemic of CeD.

We, therefore, propose a pilot study to estimate the prevalence of CeD in high-risk group patients in certain Asian countries.