<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Thank you all so much for your help. I am being interviewed for the newspaper and one of the questions they are going to ask is "Just how common is Celiac Disease?". I had no idea how to answer this, but now thanks to you all I think I can handle it. =) It seems people can't put it in prespective until they hear it's more common than something they think is very common. ~Beth Here are the responses I recieved. *************** It is 100 times more common than most diseases that Dr's routinely screen for. It is twice as common as Crones, ulcerative colitis and cystic fibrosis combined! It is the most common intestinal disorder in the world, and is also the most misdiagnosed. It affects 1 out of every 30 people that visit a gastroenterologist for ANY reason, and one out of every 150 people in the normal population. 1 out of every 12 first degree relatives of celiacs will have the disease, and one out of every 11 second degree relatives will have it. ************ "With a prevalence of 1 in 250 persons would make celiac sprue the most common genetic disease known to man." With the figure up to 1 in 150 now (about 1% of the population ) , that's probably even a stronger comment. But I guess if you can find the statistical rates for a variety of other fairly common genetic disorders, you can say with some authority what celiac disease is more common than. ********** **It's as common as the cold. More common than autism, more common than Crohn's, more common than Parkinson's, Lyme Disease, and Tourette's Syndrome put together. One in 150 has CD, according to the most recent figures out of University of Maryland. ********** **Celiac disease is more common than .......... doctors that know about it ********** At first I thought it was a joke, was waiting for the punch line. It is more common that lymphocytic colitis which is a rare form of colitis registered with the national center for disease control. ********** getting struck by lightning =) ********** This is an unanswerable question ... too many possibilities. Let's try deaths by drinking hemlock, rattlesnake bites, and lightning strikes. Now, to be serious ... one in approximately 225-250 people in the US have Celiac disease ... unfortunately, most of those affected do not know it, since doctors tend to grossly misdiagnose it. ********** It is more common than diabetes. It is just rarely diagnosed. ********** Kidney failure stricks 1 in 1,000 where as diabetes 1 in 20, although only 1 in 40 know they have it ********** Diabetes for one. ********** Coeliac is more common than CJD ( associated allegedly with "Mad Cow Disease),Lasser Fever,Legionaire's Disease,I have no doubt that Coeliac is more common than many diseases, at least in the so-called developed world. However its profile is fairly low for instance I don't know any high profile personality in the UK who has or is known to have Coeliac disease,whereas there numerous examples of well known people with say,Asthma,Dyslexia,various kinds of cancer etc. Perhaps because a coeliac who follows a strict GF diet doesn't display overt symptoms,that is the reason for its low profile,also the control of coeliac requires no state of the art medicine or specialised equipment. ********** Please share your results. I'm starting a foundation in NYC to do Celiac fundraising (research, education, FDA lobbying, etc) and I'd love to be able to use the phrase "It's more common than ..............." in our promotions. ********** Getting hit by lightning and shark attacks in Utah. Couldn't resist - - - Sorry. ********** crohn's disease for one... ********** MS, Crohn's ********** CD is the most common genetic disease in Europe and America. ******** I got this from the University of Maryland's website at www.celiaccenter.org "The research indicates that celiac is twice as common as Crohn's disease, ulceric colitis and cystic fibrosis COMBINDED!" ******** Thanks again everyone!!