Clinical and Metabolic Studies in Nontropical Sprue

Abstract

OVER a period of seven years, my colleagues and I have treated 29 patients with nontropical sprue by eliminating gluten from their diets. The average age of this series of 26 women and 3 men was forty-five and five-tenths years, with a range of twenty-two to sixty-eight, and the peak incidence was in the sixth decade. The average duration of illness was fourteen years; 13 of 29 (45 per cent) were ill for more than fifteen years, and 3 patients had symptoms for more than thirty-five years. Eight (28 per cent) either had celiac disease or reported its occurrence in . . .