Gluten-Free Diet Reduces Sleep Disturbances in Most Children with Celiac Disease

Celiac.com 04/07/2022 - Many people with celiac disease report experiencing sleep disturbances, but their response to treatment with a gluten-free diet remains poorly understood. 

Researchers Ipek Suzer Gamli and Meryem Keceli Basaran crafted a study to look at changes in sleep disturbances in children with celiac disease within 6 months of starting a gluten-free diet. They are affilated with the Istanbul Erenkoy Mental and Neurological Diseases Training and Research Hospital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Istanbul, Turkey, and the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura State Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Istanbul, Turkey.

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For their study, the researchers looked at a total of 103 children initially diagnosed with celiac disease, with no psychiatric diagnosis and not receiving psychotropic medication. They gathered sociodemographic data, along with the results of a Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), both before and six months after the start of a gluten-free diet.

The average CSHQ score prior to the gluten-free diet was 46. After starting the gluten-free diet, the score dropped to 40, which is below the clinical cutoff level for sleep disturbance. A total of 74 patients (71.8%) had a CSHQ score above the clinically significant cutoff before treatment, which decreased to 40 patients (38.8%) six months after gluten-free diet. 

Treatment with a gluten-free diet significant improved all CSHQ sub-scale scores, and the total CSHQ score. Compared to symptomatic children, children diagnosed incidentally experienced more parasomnia and higher total CSHQ scores, but showed no differences after gluten-free diet. 

In nearly forty percent of patients, the total CSHQ score remained high 6 months after starting the gluten-free diet. Children whose scores remained high had higher maternal and paternal ages.

A gluten-free diet rapidly and significantly improves sleep scores in children with celiac disease, regardless of initial age, sex, and symptom status. With a gluten-free diet, children may fall asleep more easily, and sleep longer, with less interruptions. 

A gluten-free diet helps reduce sleep disturbances in celiac disease, but future studies should investigate the certain conditions in patients who do not respond to a gluten-free diet.

So far, evidence that a gluten-free diet can reduce sleep disturbances in children has been weak or largely anecdotal. This study offers some exciting evidence to support the benefits of a gluten-free diet in improving insomnia and sleep disturbances in children. Stay tuned for more on this and related stories.

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