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Silent coeliac disease is over‐represented in children with type 1 diabetes and their siblings
Author(s) -
Hansson Tony,
Dahlbom Ingrid,
Tuvemo Torsten,
Frisk Gun
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.12823
Subject(s) - coeliac disease , medicine , tissue transglutaminase , diabetes mellitus , type 1 diabetes , disease , seroconversion , immunopathology , pediatrics , gastroenterology , immunology , endocrinology , antibody , biochemistry , chemistry , enzyme
Aim This study measured autoantibodies against tissue transglutaminase (anti‐tTG) to detect untreated coeliac disease in children with type 1 diabetes and their siblings. Methods Anti‐tTG was measured in prospectively collected sera from 169 children at the onset of diabetes, 88 of their siblings and 96 matched control children. Coeliac disease was confirmed with a small intestinal biopsy. Results Coeliac disease was diagnosed in five children before diabetes onset. A further 12 children were diagnosed after diabetes onset, without any gastrointestinal symptoms, and 11 of these had anti‐tTG at the onset of diabetes, with the remaining child showing seroconversion within 6 months. Hence, all the children with both diseases had anti‐tTG at or before diabetes diagnosis, and the prevalence of coeliac disease was 10.1%. Moreover, 6.8% of the siblings and 3.1% of the control children had elevated levels of anti‐tTG. None of the siblings reported any coeliac‐related symptoms, despite being positive for anti‐tTG, and coeliac disease has so far been biopsy confirmed in 4.5%. Conclusion Silent coeliac disease is over‐represented in children with type 1 diabetes and their siblings. All diabetes children and their siblings should be tested and followed for the presence of anti‐tTG and coeliac disease.