Medical researchers say they have found an apparent increase in the incidence of celiac disease among children who display signs of irritable bowel syndrome.

Those diagnosed with the bowel condition are four times as likely to eventually develop celiac disease, a digestive system disorder of the small intestine that keeps the body from properly absorbing necessary nutrients in food.

"The identification of IBS as a high-risk condition for celiac disease might be of help in pediatric primary care because it might have become routine to test for celiac disease indiscriminately in all children with recurrent abdominal pain, although our finding suggests that the screening should be extended only to those with IBS," said Dr. Fernanda Cristofori of Italy's University of Bari.

In their study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers analyzed the incidence of celiac disease in 992 children with different abdominal-pain disorders, using blood tests to determine the incidence of children displaying a gastrointestinal syndrome who also displayed evidence of celiac disease.

Those children in IBS were found to be four times as likely to develop celiac disease as those children suffering from other abdominal pain disorders.

Recurrent abdominal pain problems -- defined as a minimum of three episodes over three month -- affect around 10 to 15 percent of school-aged children, while the occurrence of celiac disease can be as high as 1 percent in the American population.

Patients can experience a wide range of symptoms including abdominal pain, although celiac disease can be asymptomatic, with no external indications at all.

Celiac disease affects more than two million people in the United States, making them unable to tolerate the protein gluten, found in wheat, barley and rye.

In a JAMA Pediatrics editorial accompanying the publication of the study, James E. Squires from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center suggested "selective screening for celiac disease is warranted for children with IBS but not for children with other FGIDS (functional gastrointestinal disorders),"

"However, the lines distinguishing IBS from alternative FGIDS are often blurred," he wrote. "It is within this reality that pediatric health care providers should examine the evidence, evaluate the patient and family, weigh the likelihood of a false positive test result, and make the decision that they believe will benefit the patient most."