What's the Best Way to Screen for Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases in Celiac Patients?

Celiac.com 02/06/2017 - People with celiac disease have higher rates of autoimmune thyroiditis, and vice versa. Both of these common autoimmune diseases share multiple aspects lodging at the two ends of the gut-thyroid axis where the cross-talks' pathways are still unrivaled.

A team of researchers recently set out to better understand the parameters for effectively screening patients with either disease for the presence of the other. The research team included Aaron Lerner, and Torsten Matthias of the Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, and with AESKU.KIPP Institute, Wendelsheim, Germany.

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Many clinicians recommend screening patients with thyroid autoimmunity for celiac disease associated antibodies. However, the wisdom of routinely screening of celiac patients for anti-thyroid antibodies is less certain.

Despite the fact that the latter screening fulfills most of the criteria for screening a disease, the timing and cost-effectiveness remains undetermined.

For now, in face of celiac disease, the researchers are recommending that clinicians and practitioners keep in mind the higher rates of autoimmune thyroid disease in the interests of making timely and accurate diagnosis.

Read their full report.

Source:

• International Journal of Celiac Disease. Vol. 4, No. 4, 2016, pp 124-126. doi: 10.12691/ijcd-4-4-10