Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity: Permanent or Transient Condition?

NCT02823522 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: ACPM11
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 280
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) has been recently included among the gluten-related diseases. Patients suffering from NCGS are diagnosed after carefully excluding celiac disease (CD), and immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated wheat allergy. Then, in the absence of sensitive and specific diagnostic biomarkers for NCGS, a monitoring of the patient during elimination and re-introduction of wheat by a double-blind placebo controlled (DBPC) challenge method has been suggested as diagnostic hallmark. Some studies seem to suggest that wheat components other than gluten can cause the symptoms, and therefore the term "non-celiac wheat sensitivity" (NCWS) has been proposed instead of NCGS. While it is well known that CD is a long-life condition and a strict adherence to the gluten-free diet must be maintained, it is unknown whether this is valid for NCWS. On the year 2012, the researchers published a retrospective study, including 276 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-like symptoms who had been diagnosed with NCWS using a DBPC challenge during a ten-years period (2001-2011). The present prospective study aimed to evaluate: A) how many of these patients are still following a wheat-free diet, and B) which percentage was still suffering from NCWS, diagnosed by DBPC wheat challenge, in a subgroup of that cohort.

Conditions

Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• How many patients were still following a gluten-free or a wheat-free diet

  A structured questionnaire was administered to evaluate how many patients were still following a gluten-free diet (GFD) and how many a wheat-free diet.

  Between July and November 2016

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Evaluation of the effect of the GFD on IBS symptoms

  Between July and November 2016

• Evaluation of the severity of the IBS condition

  Between July and November 2016

• Re-evaluation of the NCWS condition by DBPC-Wheat challenge

  Between July and November 2016

Interventions

Patients recruitment OTHER

Between July and November 2016, the patients included in the previous retrospective study were contacted by phone, mail and e-mail and invited to come back to the respective clinics where they had been initially diagnosed as NCWS patients: the Department of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital of Palermo and the Department of Internal Medicine of the Hospital of Sciacca (province of Agrigento).

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

The patients included in the previous retrospective study were contacted by phone, mail and e-mail and invited to come back to the respective clinics where they had been initially diagnosed as NCWS patients: the Department of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital of Palermo and the Department of Internal Medicine of the Hospital of Sciacca.

You may qualify if:

• Patients previously diagnosed with NCWS by DBPC challenge.

You may not qualify if:

• The 22 patients, included in the previous study, who tested positives for anti-endomysial antibodies (EmA) in the culture medium of the duodenal biopsies, even if the villi/crypts ratio in the duodenal mucosa was normal, were excluded from the present study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Palermo: lead

Study Sites (2)

Department of Internal Medicine, Giovanni Paolo II Hospital of Sciacca

Sciacca, Agrigento, 92019, Italy

Location

Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Palermo

Palermo, Palermo, 90129, Italy

Location

Related Publications (9)

• Sapone A, Bai JC, Ciacci C, Dolinsek J, Green PH, Hadjivassiliou M, Kaukinen K, Rostami K, Sanders DS, Schumann M, Ullrich R, Villalta D, Volta U, Catassi C, Fasano A. Spectrum of gluten-related disorders: consensus on new nomenclature and classification. BMC Med. 2012 Feb 7;10:13. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-10-13.

  PMID: 22313950 RESULT

• Ludvigsson JF, Leffler DA, Bai JC, Biagi F, Fasano A, Green PH, Hadjivassiliou M, Kaukinen K, Kelly CP, Leonard JN, Lundin KE, Murray JA, Sanders DS, Walker MM, Zingone F, Ciacci C. The Oslo definitions for coeliac disease and related terms. Gut. 2013 Jan;62(1):43-52. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2011-301346. Epub 2012 Feb 16.

  PMID: 22345659 RESULT

• Catassi C, Elli L, Bonaz B, Bouma G, Carroccio A, Castillejo G, Cellier C, Cristofori F, de Magistris L, Dolinsek J, Dieterich W, Francavilla R, Hadjivassiliou M, Holtmeier W, Korner U, Leffler DA, Lundin KE, Mazzarella G, Mulder CJ, Pellegrini N, Rostami K, Sanders D, Skodje GI, Schuppan D, Ullrich R, Volta U, Williams M, Zevallos VF, Zopf Y, Fasano A. Diagnosis of Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS): The Salerno Experts' Criteria. Nutrients. 2015 Jun 18;7(6):4966-77. doi: 10.3390/nu7064966.

  PMID: 26096570 RESULT

• Spence D. Bad medicine: food intolerance. BMJ. 2013 Jan 30;346:f529. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f529. No abstract available.

  PMID: 23364064 RESULT

• Carroccio A, Rini G, Mansueto P. Non-celiac wheat sensitivity is a more appropriate label than non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Gastroenterology. 2014 Jan;146(1):320-1. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2013.08.061. Epub 2013 Nov 22. No abstract available.

  PMID: 24275240 RESULT

• Fasano A, Sapone A, Zevallos V, Schuppan D. Nonceliac gluten sensitivity. Gastroenterology. 2015 May;148(6):1195-204. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2014.12.049. Epub 2015 Jan 9.

  PMID: 25583468 RESULT

• Carroccio A, Mansueto P, Iacono G, Soresi M, D'Alcamo A, Cavataio F, Brusca I, Florena AM, Ambrosiano G, Seidita A, Pirrone G, Rini GB. Non-celiac wheat sensitivity diagnosed by double-blind placebo-controlled challenge: exploring a new clinical entity. Am J Gastroenterol. 2012 Dec;107(12):1898-906; quiz 1907. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2012.236. Epub 2012 Jul 24.

  PMID: 22825366 RESULT

• Francis CY, Morris J, Whorwell PJ. The irritable bowel severity scoring system: a simple method of monitoring irritable bowel syndrome and its progress. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 1997 Apr;11(2):395-402. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2036.1997.142318000.x.

  PMID: 9146781 RESULT

• Carroccio A, D'Alcamo A, Iacono G, Soresi M, Iacobucci R, Arini A, Geraci G, Fayer F, Cavataio F, La Blasca F, Florena AM, Mansueto P. Persistence of Nonceliac Wheat Sensitivity, Based on Long-term Follow-up. Gastroenterology. 2017 Jul;153(1):56-58.e3. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.03.034. Epub 2017 Mar 30.

  PMID: 28365444 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Antonio Carroccio, MD

  Department of Internal Medicine, Giovanni Paolo II Hospital of Sciacca

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: MD

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 27, 2016
• First Posted: July 6, 2016
• Study Start: July 1, 2016
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2024
• Study Completion: December 1, 2025
• Last Updated: May 5, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

IT (2)