AOECS to Lift the Patient Perspective at Global Coeliac Conference

The International Coeliac Disease Symposium (ICDS) is the largest scientific global conference focused on research on coeliac disease. This year AOECS will attend and present at the conference held in Sheffield (UK) on 5-7 September 2024.

The ICDS brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, clinicians, and other experts on celiac disease from around the world to discuss and share the latest advancements in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and management of coeliac disease.

AOECS knows these professionals as very much involved, passionate and open to the patient's view. For this reason, it is important that AOECS share the patient's view and interact as much as possible with the healthcare community at this conference. It is also of great importance for AOECS to keep track of what is going on in the frontiers of science in the field of coeliac disease and adjust to future trends.

To balance the focus on medical research at this conference, AOECS board member Floris van Overveld will make a presentation that puts the spotlight on the 8,700 hours per year when a person with coeliac disease is not a patient.

- Most patients spend between 0 and 30 minutes a year talking to a doctor when it comes to coeliac disease. Yet most of the research is focused on that medical realm. I want to challenge the scientists present at ISSCD that the research should be broadened. For most patients with coeliac disease, the burden of the disease is not in the medical realm. It is how to get safe and affordable gluten free food. And it is how to deal with the social implications of coeliac disease, says Floris van Overveld.

What is coeliac disease

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder characterized by an immune reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. The ingestion of gluten in individuals with coeliac disease leads to damage to the small intestine, causing various symptoms and long-term health issues.