Some 20,000 children in Malta and Sicily will participate in a project seeking a less invasive screening method for coeliac diseases that leads to an earlier diagnosis.

A Health Ministry spokeswoman told the Times of Malta that the children who will be screened for coeliac disease were aged between four and 11 and the project would be launched this week.

Financed by the cross-border programme Interreg Italy-Malta, which uses European regional funds to enhance cooperation, innovation and research between European countries, research for the project will be on computer-assisted diagnosis of the disease.

So far, a suspected case of coeliac disease is investigated through blood tests and an endoscopy. It had been shown that this is both expensive and invasive, the spokeswoman noted.

This procedure is expected to yield an earlier diagnosis and management of the condition with reduced morbidity for the patient, as well as significant cost saving to the country

The project would be looking into a different approach, involving the use of what is known as a point-of-care test, as a screening tool to detect potential coeliac cases. These are then investigated further to arrive at a diagnosis.

In modern medicine, point-of-care tests are done close to the patient, such as at home or at a healthcare practitioner’s office, and are often carried out through hand-held devices, like glucose meters.

The spokeswoman said the aim was to combine the result of the point-of-care test, a validated questionnaire and a laboratory investigation to generate a computer-based tool that could be used to arrive at a coeliac disease diagnosis without the need for an endoscopy, therefore avoiding an invasive procedure.

“This procedure is expected to yield an earlier diagnosis and management of the condition with reduced morbidity for the patient, as well as significant cost saving to the country,” she added.

The University of Palermo and the Maltese Health Ministry are leading the project.

An estimated one in 100 people suffers from coeliac disease in Europe but only a quarter of them receive an accurate diagnosis. 

In fact, coeliac disease is the most common food-related chronic disease among children in Europe with the prevalence rising in recent decades.