Prevalence and clinical features of celiac disease in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis: cross-sectional study

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder with an average prevalence of 1% in Europe and the United States. Because of strong European ancestry in southern Brazil, this study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of celiac disease among autoimmune thyroiditis patients.DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study in a public university hospital.METHODS: This cross-sectional prevalence study included autoimmune thyroiditis patients who were tested for anti-endomysial and anti-transglutaminase antibodies between August 2010 and July 2011.RESULTS: Fifty-three patients with autoimmune thyroiditis were included; 92.5% were women, with mean age of 49.0 ± 13.5 years. Five patients (9.3%) were serologically positive for celiac disease: three of them (5.6%) were reactive for anti-endomysial antibodies and two (3.7%) for anti-transglutaminase. None of them exhibited anemia and one presented diarrhea. Endoscopy was performed on two patients: one with normal histology and the other with lymphocytic infiltrate and villous atrophy.CONCLUSION: The prevalence of celiac disease among patients with autoimmune thyroid disease was 9.3%; one patient complained of diarrhea and none presented anemia. Among at-risk populations, like autoimmune thyroiditis patients, the presence of diarrhea or anemia should not be used as a criterion for indicating celiac disease investigation. This must be done for all autoimmune thyroiditis patients because of its high prevalence.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ventura,Aline, Ronsoni,Marcelo Fernando, Shiozawa,Maria Beatriz Cacese, Dantas-Corrêa,Esther Buzaglo, Canalli,Maria Heloisa Busi da Silva, Schiavon,Leonardo de Lucca, Narciso-Schiavon,Janaína Luz
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Associação Paulista de Medicina - APM 2014
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31802014000600364
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!