Prevalence of Celiac Disease in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in the South of Turkey

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM), autoimmune disorders, relatives of celiac patients have higher risk of developing celiac disease (CD) because they share the same HLA type. Celiac disease and type 1 DM are autoimmune and common in children. According to international guidelines, serological screening for CD in children and adults with type 1 DM is recommended but there is no consensus on how often it will be performed.

We aimed to investigate the prevalence of CD in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM).

This current study was carried out between 01 March 2017 and 15 December 2018. 273 children with type 1 DM were included in the study. Tissue transglutaminase antibody IgA (tTG IgA) and total IgA levels were measured in all patients. The patients with tTG IgA positivity underwent gastroduodenoscopy.

Of the 273 patients (139 girls), the mean age was 11.61 ± 3.73 years. tTG IgA was positive in 23 patients, and 2 of them refused the process of endoscopy. Gastroduodenoscopy was performed on other patients. 11 patients with Marsh 3, 2 patients with Marsh 2, 4 patients with Marsh 1, and 4 patients with Marsh 0 were detected in the present study. In other words, 12 patients were diagnosed with CD. Nine of 12 patients diagnosed with CD were diagnosed within the first 5 years after the diagnosis of type 1 DM.

We found that the prevalence of biopsy-proven CD in children with type 1 DM was 4.4%, which was approximately 9 times higher than the prevalence of CD in the general population. In the current study, 9 of 12 patients diagnosed with CD were diagnosed within the first 5 years after DM. According to our results, we recommend that screening tests for CD should be performed at least once a year for 5 years in children with Type 1 DM, even if the patients are asymptomatic.