Is Celiac Disease a Risk Factor for Autoimmune Disorders?
Patients with celiac disease who have received treatment—especially children and those who have more than 1 autoimmune disorder—have a greater risk of developing a new autoimmune disorder, according to findings of a new study.
It is known that patients with autoimmune disorders are at increased risk of celiac disease. However, there are conflicting data on the risk of autoimmune disorders among patients with celiac disease who have received treatment.
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To evaluate this risk, researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, used the Rochester Epidemiology Project to retrospectively search the medical records at Mayo Clinic and Minnesota’s Olmsted Medical Center from January 1997 to December 2015.
The researchers identified 249 patients who had received treatment for celiac disease (mean age, 32 years). Each patient with celiac disease was matched to 2 controls (mean age, 33 years) based on sex and age during the same study period.
One-third of the patients (n=85) and controls (n=170) were boys.
The researchers measured the incidence rate of autoimmune disorder diagnosis 5 years after index date using Kaplan-Meier analysis for the patients with celiac disease and the log-rank test for the control group.
Results showed that 5 years after the index date, 5.0% of patients with celiac disease and 1.3% of controls had a de novo autoimmune disorder diagnosis.
In the presence of a prior autoimmune disorder, patients with celiac disease had a significantly higher cumulative risk of developing a de novo or additional autoimmune disorder compared with the control group (P < .001).
Children had a significantly higher risk of developing an autoimmune disorder compared with adults (P = .010).
—Colleen Murphy
Reference:
Khan MR, Nellikkal SS, Barazi A, Larson JJ, Murray JA, Absah I. The risk of autoimmune disorders in treated celiac disease patients in Olmsted County, Minnesota. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2019;69(4):438-442. doi:10.1097/MPG.0000000000002418.