The Prevalence of Celiac Disease among Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Download PDF

Introduction: Celiac disease and type 1 diabetes are related together in terms of HLA markers and having the chromosomal places, and several studies have indicated that the prevalence of celiac disease in patients with type 1 diabetes is higher than in the general population. Therefore, screening for celiac disease is recommended for patients with type 1 diabetes. Materials and Methods: This descriptive analytical study was carried out on 79 patients who had previously been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and referred to the Adult Endocrine Clinic in Khorramabad, from April 2012 to October 2013. In case they met the inclusion criteria, patients were investigated in terms of the presence of the tTG-IgA Anti antibody. In those patients who had positive results in terms of the presence of antibodies, the anti-EMA IgA test and an upper endoscopy were performed, and a biopsies were obtained from the second part of the duodenum. The data was analyzed using SPSS software. Findings: 79 type 1 diabetes patients with an average age of 21.4 ± 7.10, who were at least 11 and at most 39 years old were studied. 33 individuals were male (41.8%) and 46 individuals were female (58.2%). 14 patients (17.7%) were positive for tTG IgA, and among them 3 patients (21.42%) were positive for EMA IgA. Patients with positive tTG IgA test were considered appropriate for the endoscopy and biopsy. 4 patients with positive tTG IgA failed to show up for endoscopy and one person with positive tTG IgA had normal biopsy. Among 75 patients with type 1 diabetes that were present at all stages of the project, nine patients (12%) had celiac disease, among whom 6 patients were (66.66%) 10-20 years old and 3 patients were (33.33%) were older than 20. 6 patients were female (66.66%) and 3 patients were male (33.33%). None of them had a history of diabetes in their families. In the terms of having gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with diabetes type 1, 5 patients (6.3%) had gastrointestinal symptoms and 74 patients (93.7%) had no gastrointestinal symptoms. 100 percent of the patients with gastrointenstinal symptoms were tTG IgA positive and 40% were EMA IgA positive. There was a statistically significant relationship between serological results and gastrointestinal symptoms. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on this study, the prevalence of celiac disease in patients with type I diabetes is 12%. Therefore, celiac screening tests are recommended as a routine test in these patients.