Prevalence of celiac disease in children with idiopathic epilepsy in southeast Turkey.

Background: We examined the prevalence of celiac disease in children with idiopathic epilepsy.

Methods: Patients were screened for celiac disease using the immunoglobulin A anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and small intestinal biopsy were offered to all antibody-positive patients. The control group consisted of 400 healthy children.

Results: A total of 600 patients (332 boys, 268 girls; 8 months-15 years; 9.40 ± 4.09 years) were studied. In 38 patients, the diagnosis was childhood partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms. Six of the 38 patients with childhood partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms (15.7%) had positive immunoglobulin A anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody. The frequency of biopsy-proven celiac disease was 15.7% (6/38) among children with childhood partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms. None of the control patients had positive immunoglobulin A anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody results.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that the prevalence of celiac disease in children with partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms may be higher than with other types of epilepsies. It may be reasonable to screen individuals with this type of epilepsy for celiac disease.