Gynecological Disorders in Patients with Non-celiac Wheat Sensitivity

Celiac.com 04/14/2020 - Non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS) most frequently presents clinically with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-like symptoms, although many extra-intestinal manifestations have also been attributed to it. No studies to date have evaluated the presence and frequency of gynecological symptoms in NCWS.

A team of researchers recently set out to assess the frequency of gynecological disorders in patients with NCWS. The research team included Maurizio Soresi, Salvatore Incandela, Pasquale Mansueto, Giuseppe Incandela, Francesco La Blasca, Francesca Fayer, Alberto D’Alcamo, Ada Maria Florena & Antonio Carroccio. They are variously affiliated with the Gynecology Unit, Giovanni Paolo II Hospital, Sciacca, Italy, and with the Internal Medicine Unit, and the Pathology Unit of the Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE), University of Palermo in Palermo, Italy.

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The team surveyed gynecological symptoms and recurrent cystitis in sixty-eight women with NCWS. They referred all patients with symptoms to specialists. The study used three different control groups. The first included 52 patients with IBS not related to NCWS, the second included 56 patients with celiac disease, and the third included 71 healthy control subjects.

Nearly sixty percent of NCWS patients had more frequent gynecological symptoms, than did healthy control subjects, IBS control subjects or controls with celiac disease. More than twenty-five percent of patients with NCWS experienced more frequent changes to the menstrual cycle, compared with just over eleven percent of healthy controls.  Sixteen percent patients with NCWS suffered from recurrent vaginitis (16%) and dyspareunia (6%) significantly more frequently than healthy controls. 

Nearly thirty percent of NCWS patients reported recurrent cystitis, far more than in healthy, IBS, and celiac control groups. Most patients with NCWS and recurrent vaginitis or cystitis had negative microbiological exam results.

Gluten-Free Diet Resolves Symptoms

Over a one-year follow-up period, nearly half of patients with menstrual disorders and nearly forty percent with recurrent vaginitis reported that their symptoms had resolved on a wheat-free diet.

Gynecological symptoms and recurrent cystitis were substantially more frequent in patients with NCWS than in IBS patients. Further study will likely help to shed light on the reasons for this difference, and help to reveal other important differences between these conditions.

Read more in Digestive Diseases and Sciences (2020)