Increased Risk Of Getting Tb

[DrMom]

TB risk raised in patients with celiac disease

20 October 2006

Thorax 2006; Advance online publication

Patients with celiac disease have an almost four times increased risk of developing tuberculosis (TB), say Swedish scientists.

The team suggests that malabsorption of nutrients and lack of vitamin D in patients with celiac disease may make them more susceptible to the respiratory infection.

Noting that TB is more common in people with malnutrition, Jonas Ludvigsson, from Örebro University Hospital, and colleagues determined the risk of TB in 14,335 celiac disease sufferers and 69,888 healthy controls from the general population.

Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed that the hazard ratio of subsequent TB in people with celiac disease was 3.74, with similar ratios observed when gender and age were taken into account, the team reports in an advance online publication by the journal Thorax.

"In conclusion, this study shows that celiac disease is associated with an increased risk of TB," the researchers say.

However, they caution that in countries where TB is uncommon, an increase in the relative risk of 3–4 translates into a rather small absolute risk.

The investigators hypothesize that "malnutrition in celiac disease leads to malabsorption of a number of nutrients including vitamin D which increases the risk of TB infection."

They conclude: "This underlines the importance of evaluating vitamin D status in patients </b>