No Connection Seen Between Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Celiac Disease in Children

Celiac.com 01/11/2022 - Researchers still don't have a good idea about rates of celiac disease in people with irritable bowel disease. Some studies indicate that it's possible for both diseases to occur together in the same patient. 

A team of researchers recently set out to investigate the prevalence of celiac disease in Saudi Arabian children with irritable bowel disease. The research team included Mamdouh Qadi, Medical Student, Mohammed Hasosah, MD, Anas Alamoudi, Medical Student, Abdullah AlMansour, Medical Student, Mohammed Alghamdi, Medical Student, Faisal Alzahrani, Medical Student, Sultan Alzahrani, Medical Student, and Bader Khawaji, PhD. They are variously affiliated with the College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and the Ministry of the National Guard—Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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For their retrospective study the research team enrolled Saudi patients between 1 and 18 years of age, who were diagnosed with irritable bowel disease and celiac disease based on positive antibody screening and biopsy, from January 2011 to January 2020, at the Pediatric Gastroenterology Department at National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

They excluded any patient with an immunodeficiency disorder. Of the nearly fifty enrolled patients with irritable bowel disease, they found four with celiac disease. 

The researchers found that the patients' height and weight when diagnosed with irritable bowel disease improved significantly by the time this study was conducted, but they found no significant connections between Ulcerative Colitis and celiac disease, or Crohn's disease and celiac disease. 

Most importantly in this case, the team found no significant connections between the rates of celiac disease and irritable bowel disease in children. 

The team members called for additional prospective multi-center studies to further clarify rates of celiac disease in children with irritable bowel disease.

Read more in Global Pediatric Health