Summary Background Coeliac disease (CD), originally thought to be largely confined to Northern Europe and Australasia and uncommon in North America and the Middle East, is now recognised to be equally common in all these countries. It is still thought to be rare in the Orient and Sub‐Saharan Africa. Aim To assess geographical differences and time trends in the frequency of CD. Methods Medline and Embase searches were conducted on 10 November 2012, from 1946 and 1980 respectively, using the key words: coeliac disease or celiac disease + prevalence or incidence or frequency. Results There were significant intra‐ and inter‐country differences in the prevalence and incidence of CD. Only 24 ethnic Chinese and Japanese patients have been reported in the English literature. Of CD‐associated HLA DQ antigens, DQ2 occurs in 5–10% of Chinese and sub‐Saharan Africans, compared to 5–20% in Western Europe. DQ8 occurs in 5–10% of English, Tunisians and Iranians, but in <5% of Eastern Europeans, Americans and Asians. The prevalence and incidence of both clinically and serologically diagnosed CD increased in recent years. These geographical and temporal differences seem genuine, although variable indices of suspicion and availability of diagnostic facilities are confounding factors. Conclusions Coeliac disease is increasing in frequency, with significant geographical differences. Although few cases have been described to date in the Orient and Sub‐Saharan Africa, there is a significant prevalence of HLA DQ2 and wheat consumption is of the same order as that in Western Europe. CD may therefore become more common in the future in these countries.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) holds significance as a highly prevalent disorder in elderly populations. Various studies have been conducted on the association between alcohol consumption and OA, but the results have often been conflicting. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and OA in a large-scale sample representative of the Korean population. Methods: Among the 25,534 participants surveyed in the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012), 7165 individuals aged ≥50 who responded to drinking-related items were analyzed. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) grade was calculated, and radiologic examination analysis included the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade of the lumbar spine, hip, and knee joints. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between AUDIT grades and OA through estimation of odds ratios (ORs). Results: In crude analyses, OA (KL grade ≥ 2) of the lumbar spine and knee was more prevalent towards Zone I, but following adjustment, knee OA prevalence significantly increased in Zone III and IV compared to Zone I (Zone III: OR 1.464, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.027-2.088; Zone IV: OR 1.543, 95% CI 1.028-2.317, respectively). Meanwhile, adjusted hip and lumbar OA values showed positive associations towards Zone IV, but did not reach statistical significance. Additional analyses of the association between alcohol consumption and pain severity of knee OA patients were nonsignificant. Conclusions: These results imply that radiological knee OA, rather than symptomatic knee OA, is associated with alcohol consumption.