Celiac disease awareness is certainly on the rise, but with an estimated 85% of people living with the autoimmune disease remaining undiagnosed, there is still a great need for more education and awareness among the public and physicians alike. In a big step towards spreading awareness among the clinical community, the popular primary care physician journal Primary Care Reports recently published a peer-reviewed paper focused solely on celiac disease.

The paper was co-authored by National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) Scientific/Medical Advisory Council Member Sheila E. Crowe, MD Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA and Erica Boettcher, MD, Chief Gastrointestinal Fellow, University of California, San Diego.

Education about celiac disease among primary care physicians is imperative as they are often the first place people go to seek answers for their medical concerns. NFCA is excited to see journals beginning to focus more on celiac disease and encourages physicians to learn more about the signs of celiac disease, particularly the primary care community – a community that NFCA has long targeted in its celiac disease educational efforts.

NFCA launched a free online continuing medical education (CME) program for primary care providers in July 2010. Available at CeliacCMECentral.com, the accredited training program is the first of its kind to specifically address the issue of celiac disease, teaching providers how to detect, diagnose and manage the disease.

So far, more than 450 primary care providers have completed NFCA’s CME, and its resources have been downloaded more than 4,400 times. NFCA is determined to educate more providers, and articles such as this one in Primary Care Reports can help put celiac disease front and center, encouraging more healthcare providers to consider educational programs on this topic.

For more information on Primary Care Reports, visit www.AHCMedia.com.

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