Celiac disease prevalence in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes from Serbia.

Background: The association between celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is well known. Up to now, CD prevalence in children and adolescents with T1DM in Serbia has not been reported. The aim of the present study was to determine CD prevalence and its clinical manifestations in patients with T1DM.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-one patients (70 girls, 51 boys; mean age, 10.8 years) with T1DM (mean duration of diabetes, 3.4 years) and 125 control group participants (75 girls, 50 boys; mean age, 10.4 years) were tested for CD on tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG). In seven serologically positive T1DM patients endoscopic small bowel biopsies were taken and examined on histopathology. In all patients with CD and T1DM age, duration of T1DM, height for age, body mass index, glycosylated hemoglobin and clinical symptoms were noted.

Results: Nine patients with T1DM were positive on IgA tTG antibodies. In seven of them small bowel biopsy was performed, and all were proven to have CD on histopathology. The prevalence of biopsy-proven CD in children and adolescents with T1DM was significantly higher in the study group compared to controls (5.79%. vs 0.8%, P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The significantly higher prevalence of CD in children with type 1 diabetes, in accordance with the large volume of data published in the literature, underlines the need for yearly screening of CD in patients with diabetes in order to promptly start a gluten-free diet when appropriate.