Prevalence of celiac disease in primary care: the need for its own code.

The prevalence of 0.35% is a long way from the generally accepted 1% but within the usually considered ratio 1:7 of diagnosed:undiagnosed cases. Differences among sectors should be carefully analysed. Lacking its own ICPC code, diagnosis of CD in Primary Care Services is not included in a single category, but it is distributed under several descriptors, which makes it difficult to offer any firm diagnosis for treatment and hinders research. Finally, the high prevalence of CD justifies its own ICPC code and the need to withdraw CD from the generic D99 code "Disease digestive system other".