Celiac Disease Tied to Depression in Children and Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes

Celiac.com 03/29/2021 - A team of researchers recently set out to analyze the connection between celiac disease and depression in children, adolescents, and young adults with Type 1 diabetes.

For their study, the team looked at nearly 80,000 patients aged 6–20 years, with Type 1 diabetes lasting at least six months, and treatment data, in the diabetes patient follow-up registry, between 1995 and 2019. The team assigned the patients to one of four groups: Type 1 diabetes patients, numbering 73,699; Type 1 diabetes + celiac disease, numbering 3,379; Type 1 diabetes + depression, numbering 1877; or Type 1 diabetes + celiac disease + depression, numbering 112 patients.

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The results showed a strong association between celiac disease and depression. Depression and celiac disease were more frequent in women, compared with Type 1 diabetes. 

Patients with Type 1 diabetes + celiac disease, and Type 1 diabetes + depression, were more likely to use insulin pumps compared with Type 1 diabetes only. 

HbA1c was higher in Type 1 diabetes + depression, Type 1 diabetes + celiac disease + depression, both compared with Type 1 diabetes only. 

Compared with Type 1 diabetes patients, patients with Type 1 diabetes + celiac disease + depression were more likely to have comorbid autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, and eating disorders.

The results support a strong connection between celiac disease and depression in young people with Type 1 diabetes. The team hypothesizes that the emotional weight of Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease together may increase a patient's risk for depression. Depression was also associated with additional psychological and neurological comorbidities. 

In addition to screening Type 1 diabetes patients for celiac disease at regular intervals, the team suggests celiac disease patients might screening benefit from regular depression screening.

Read more in Acta Diabetologica (2021)

The research team included Sascha René Tittel, Désirée Dunstheimer, Dörte Hilgard, Burkhild Knauth, Elke Fröhlich-Reiterer, Angela Galler, Michael Wurm, and Reinhard Walter Holl. They are variously affiliated with the Institute for Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, ZIBMT, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 41, 89081, Ulm, Germany; the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Munich-Neuherberg, Germany; the Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical Faculty University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany; the Department of Pediatrics, Witten, Germany; the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, CJD Berchtesgaden, Berchtesgaden, Germany; the Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Graz, Graz, Austria; the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany; the Clinic St. Hedwig, University Children’s Hospital Regensburg (KUNO Clinics), University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; the Institute for Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, ZIBMT, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 41, 89081, Ulm, Germany; and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Munich-Neuherberg, Germany.