High Rate of Celiac Disease in Autoimmune Hepatitis Patients

Celiac.com 07/14/2021 - Prior efforts to determine rates of celiac disease in individuals with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) have shown highly variable data. To get better data and develop a clearer picture of the issue, a team of researchers recently set out to assess rates of celiac disease in individuals with AIH.

For their study, the team employed two professional librarians to search PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane and Web of Science Core Collection for entries through February 7th, 2020. Their search turned up nearly 2,500 unique publications that included any of the terms “celiac disease”, “celiac”, “transglutaminases”, “gluten”, “gliadin”, “EMA”, “TTG” and “villous” combined with “autoimmune”, “hepatitis”, “ANA”, “SMA” or “LKM”. 

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The team then conducted a systematic review based on the PRISMA guidelines. They found 31 articles eligible for full-text review, 15 of which were deemed relevant. They included eight publications in their main analysis, using a fixed-effect inverse variance-weighted model, and also determining heterogeneity.

Their final analysis included 567 individuals with AIH from eight studies, where they found biopsy-verified celiac disease equivalent to Marsh III in 23 individuals, for a rate of about 4%. The pooled rate of celiac disease in AIH was 3.5%, more than triple the 1% celiac disease rates found in most general populations. When 15 other studies of 1,817 AIH patients were included, where celiac disease had been diagnosed through positive serology without biopsy, the pooled rate of celiac disease was still about 3%. 

This study shows that celiac disease rates are higher in individuals with AIH compared to the general population. The study team recommends that doctors consider celiac screening in patients with AIH.

Read more in Liver International
 

The research team included Linnea Haggård, Ida Glimberg, Benjamin Lebwohl, Rajani Sharma, Elizabeth C Verna, Peter HR Green, and Jonas F. Ludvigsson. They are variously affiliated with the Department Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden; Celiac Disease Center, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; the Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA; the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA; the Department of Pediatrics, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden; and the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.