Author: Rensch MJ; Merenich JA; Lieberman M; Long BD; Davis DR; McNally PR.
Address: Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
Source: Ann Intern Med, 124: 6, 1996 Mar 15, 564-7
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of celiac disease in a cohort of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with coexistent disease.
DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.
SETTING: U.S. Army medical center.
PATIENTS: 47 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
MEASUREMENTS: Antiendomysial antibody testing was used to screen for celiac disease. The diagnosis of celiac disease required histologic evidence of villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia and a positive antiendomysial antibody test result. In patients identified as having coexistent disease, complete blood counts, multiphasic biochemical testing, D-xylose absorption testing, and bone mineral density estimates were done.
RESULTS: 3 of 47 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (6.4%; 95% CI, 1.4% to 17.5%) had positive antiendomysial antibody test results and small-bowel biopsy specimens consistent with celiac disease. The 95% CI lies entirely above the estimated prevalence of celiac disease expected in the general U.S. population, which ranges from 0.02% to 0.1%. Mean bone mineral densities were 0.8 and 1.1 SD below age-, ethnicity-, and sex-matched controls in each of the 2 antiendomysial antibody-positive patients tested. Small bowel absorption was abnormal in 1 of the 2 patients tested by D-xylose. Anemia and hypoalbuminemia were not detected in any of the patients with coexistent disease. Only 1 of the 3 patients had symptoms of diarrhea. All patients were at or above their ideal body weights.
CONCLUSIONS: Celiac disease appears to be more common among patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus than in the general U.S. population (p less than 0.001). Two of the three patients with coexistent disease in this study had sub-clinical or latent celiac disease.
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