Prevalence of celiac disease in inflammatory bowel diseases: An IG-IBD multicentre study

BackgroundAn association has been described in case reports between celiac disease and inflammatory bowel diseases. The aim of the present study is to assess the prevalence of celiac disease in a large series of Italian patients with inflammatory bowel disease.MethodsThe Italian Group for Inflammatory Bowel Disease conducted a multicentre study between January 2002 and December 2004, in which 22 gastroenterology centres in Italy enrolled 1711 consecutive outpatients with inflammatory bowel disease. 860 (50.2%) had Crohn's disease (415 females, mean age 40, range 18–75), 791 (46.2%) had ulcerative colitis (371 females, mean age 40, range 18–80), and 60 (3.5%) had indeterminate colitis (27 females, mean age 40, range 18–78). All patients underwent serological testing for anti-endomysial antibodies and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies; if positive upper GI endoscopy with duodenal biopsy was performed.ResultsNine of the 1711 patients (0.5%) had serological and histological findings compatible with the diagnosis of celiac disease; six of them had ulcerative colitis and three had Crohn's disease.ConclusionsOverall we found a lower risk of celiac disease in our cohort of inflammatory bowel disease patients than in the general population; prevalence of celiac disease was higher in patients with ulcerative colitis than in those with Crohn's disease.