Do Perinatal Risk Factors Influence Development of Celiac Disease in Children?

Celiac.com 06/12/2015 - Some researchers have suspected that certain prenatal and perinatal factors might affect risk for development of celiac disease, but there is very little data. With this in mind, a team of researchers set out to determine if any prenatal and perinatal factors might affect risk for development of celiac disease in children.

Their team assessed the association of fetal growth, birth weight, and mode of delivery with development of celiac disease within the Norwegian Mother and Child (MoBa) Cohort Study. The research team included Louise Emilsson, Maria Christine Magnus, and Ketil Størdal. They are variously affiliated with the Primary Care Research Unit, Vårdcentralen Värmlands Nysäter, County Council of Värmland, Sweden, the Department of Health Management and Health Economy, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, the Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway, and the Paediatric Department, Ostfold Hospital Trust, Fredrikstad, Norway.

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To make their determination, the team used the MoBa cohort, which contains pregnancy information on 95,200 women and data on their 114,500 children. The information was collected in Norway from 1999 through 2008; it is linked to the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry. The team used the National Patient Registry and women’s responses to MoBa questionnaires to identify women and children with celiac disease.

The team calculated odds ratios (ORs) for celiac disease by using a multivariable logistic regression model, adjusting for maternal celiac disease, sex of children, and children’s age (model 1). In model 2, they adjusted for age of gluten introduction and duration of breastfeeding.

The team identified 650 children with celiac disease and 107,828 controls in the MoBa database. They found no connection between birth weight or height with celiac disease, including for children who were born small for gestational age.

They found no celiac disease connection based on mode of delivery (cesarean section, model 1: OR, 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65–1.09, and model 2: OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.63–1.09). They did find that maternal celiac disease, adjusted for age and sex of the children and type 1 diabetes were associated with development of celiac disease in children, whereas maternal type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes were not.

Their analysis of the Norwegian MoBa cohort shows that development of celiac disease in children is significantly associated with sex of the child, maternal celiac disease, and type 1 diabetes, but not with gestational development.

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