Clinical Factors Associated With Positive Stool PCR for Gastrointestinal Pathogens in Celiac and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Goals: We aimed to identify the clinical factors of celiac disease (CeD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) associated with positive stool gastrointestinal (GI) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Background: Understanding the pattern of enteric infections in CeD and IBD may allow further insight into microbiome-mediated pathogeneses.

Study: This was a retrospective study of adult patients (age 18 y or above) with CeD and IBD at a large quaternary care institution. We identified patients with CeD or IBD who underwent stool GIPCR evaluation as outpatients (office visit or at endoscopy) between March 2015 and March 2019. Patients with a negative GIPCR test within the study time frame were randomly chosen as controls (1 : 1). The independent relationship between clinical characteristics and positive GIPCR was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.

Results: A total of 266 patients met criteria for the study, including 92 (35%) with CeD and 174 (65%) with IBD. On multivariable analysis of factors associated with positive GIPCR test, CeD patients were more likely to have diarrheal presentation of illness [odds ratio (OR): 2.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-6.72], experience extraintestinal manifestations (OR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.01-6.31), and practice a gluten-free diet for at least 5 years (OR: 4.00, 95% CI: 1.36-11.67), relative to those with a negative GIPCR test. IBD patients with positive GIPCR were more likely to be on corticosteroids (OR: 2.23, 95% CI: 1.02-5.4.84), experience extraintestinal manifestations (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.22-5.53), and use proton-pump inhibitors (OR: 4.07, 95% CI: 1.69-9.77).

Conclusions: Intestinal infections in CeD and IBD are associated with important disease-specific characteristics.