Celiac Disease in Spanish

What it means

Celiac disease is a chronic (long-term) digestive and immune disorder that damages the small intestine. It is triggered by eating foods that contain gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and other grains. The damage may prevent the body from absorbing nutrients from food, which can lead to malnutrition and other serious health problems. MedlinePlus notes that celiac disease is different from wheat allergy and from gluten sensitivity, which does not damage the small intestine. Providers most often use blood tests and biopsies of the small intestine to diagnose it. MedlinePlus gives celiac sprue, gluten-sensitive enteropathy and nontropical sprue as other names for the condition. In Spanish the term is enfermedad celíaca.

Spanish term: Enfermedad celíaca
Gender and article: feminine: la enfermedad celíaca
Pronunciation: en-fehr-meh-DAHD seh-LEE-ah-kah

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
celiaquía	General	One-word name: it is the title of the MedlinePlus en español encyclopedia article, and the health topic lists it under Otros nombres.
esprúe celíaco	General	Listed under Otros nombres in the MedlinePlus en español health topic.
enteropatía por sensibilidad al gluten	General	Listed under Otros nombres in the MedlinePlus en español health topic.

Enfermedad celíaca is the title of the MedlinePlus en español health topic, and it is feminine: la enfermedad celíaca. The MedlinePlus en español encyclopedia article on the same condition is titled Celiaquía, a one-word name that the health topic also lists under Otros nombres together with enteropatía por sensibilidad al gluten and esprúe celíaco. The encyclopedia article uses both names in its text, for example síntomas de celiaquía and personas con enfermedad celíaca.

Words MedlinePlus en español uses around the term include gluten, spelled as in English, intestino delgado (small intestine), desnutrición (malnutrition) and vellosidades (villi, the small areas of the intestinal lining that help absorb nutrients). The grains it names are el trigo, la cebada, el centeno: wheat, barley and rye. A gluten-free diet appears as both dieta libre de gluten and dieta sin gluten, and sensibilidad al gluten is gluten sensitivity, which MedlinePlus en español describes as distinct from celiac disease.

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Patient	I get bloating and diarrhea after I eat bread or pasta.	Me da hinchazón y diarrea después de comer pan o pasta.
Clinician	Does anyone in your family have celiac disease?	¿Alguien en su familia tiene enfermedad celíaca?
Patient	Yes, my sister was diagnosed with it last year.	Sí, a mi hermana se la diagnosticaron el año pasado.
Clinician	I am going to order a blood test for celiac disease.	Voy a pedirle un análisis de sangre para la enfermedad celíaca.
Clinician	Have you already stopped eating gluten?	¿Ya dejó de comer gluten?
Clinician	We may also need a biopsy of the small intestine during an endoscopy.	Es posible que también necesitemos una biopsia del intestino delgado durante una endoscopia.
Patient	Does this product contain gluten? The label does not say.	¿Este producto contiene gluten? La etiqueta no lo dice.
Patient	Can you refer me to a dietitian to learn how to eat without gluten?	¿Puede referirme a un dietista para aprender a comer sin gluten?

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Celiac Disease
Spanish (Español)	Enfermedad celíaca
Chinese (中文)	乳糜瀉
Korean (한국어)	셀리악병
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Bệnh celiac
Filipino (Tagalog)	Sakit na Celiac
Portuguese (Português)	Doença celíaca
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	โรคซีลิแอค
Japanese (日本語)	セリアック病

Where you'll see it

chartmedical recordreferral

Related ICD-10-CM category

ICD-10-CM code: K90 → Intestinal malabsorption

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Digestive system

All terms in this area: Digestive system — Sistema digestivo

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.