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Celiac.com 11/23/2020 - Since March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic, researchers and laypeople have been wondering if people with certain health conditions, such as celiac disease, might face a higher risk for contracting Covid-19. Celiac disease is a chronic immune-mediated gastrointestinal condition triggered by gluten, which numerous studies have shown to be associated with an elevated risk of respiratory infection. A team of researchers recently set out to determine whether celiac disease patients have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. The research team included Jamie Zhen, Juan Pablo Stefanolo, Maria de la Paz Temprano, Sebastian Tedesco, Caroline Seiler, Alberto Fernandez Caminero, Enrique de-Madaria, Miguel Montoro Huguet, Santiago Vivas, Sonia Isabel Niveloni, Premysl Bercik, Edgardo Smecuol, Luis Uscanga, Elena Trucco, Virginia Lopez, Carolina Olano, Pasquale Mansueto, Antonio Carroccio, Peter H. R. Green, Andrew Day, Jason Tye-Din, Julio Cesar Bai, Carolina Ciacci, Elena Verdu, Benjamin Lebwohl, and Maria Ines Pinto-Sanchez. At this writing, the world has seen over 34 million cases of COVID-19, and more than 1 million deaths worldwide. The United States has seen over 11 million cases of Covid-19, and 250,000 deaths, with rising numbers and no end in sight. The research team carried out a cross-sectional study to determine whether patients with self-reported celiac disease have an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Between March and June 2020, the team used local celiac disease associations, electronic newsletters, and social media to recruit patients of all ages with a self-reported celiac disease, and non-celiacs, from different countries including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Uruguay, and the United States. For the study, the volunteers answered forty-one questions in a web-based survey that was available in English, Spanish and Italian using the approach proposed by Mallinckrodt and Wang. The researchers used RedCap to gather data on demographics, gluten-free diet (GFD), symptomatology, and COVID-19 testing. They used SPSS version 25 (IBM, Armonk, NY) for statistical analyses, and then compared continuous and categorical variables using the Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. They also performed logistic regression to gauge the influence of various factors on the likelihood of reporting a positive COVID-19 test. Independent variables included celiac disease diagnosis, age, gender, comorbidities, gluten-free diet adherence, extra precautions, and previous COVID-19 exposure. The unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios showed 95% confidence intervals. People with celiac disease tend to have more comorbidities including respiratory, cardiac, and diabetes, compared with control subjects. Patients with celiac disease were significantly less likely to have been tested for, and to have been exposed to, COVID-19, compared with control subjects. Just under 9% of of 940 participants tested for positive for COVID-19. Overall, celiac patients do not face any higher risk of contracting Covid-19 than control subjects. This analysis should provide some assurance to people with celiac disease and to clinicians that patients with celiac disease have about the same likelihood of contracting Covid-19 as the general population. However, this study did not look at whether people who have celiac disease have worse outcomes than those who do have it, and unfortunately there is some evidence that indicates that this may be the case. With Covid-19 cases higher than ever and rising, we encourage everyone to take precautions and be safe. Read more in the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology The researchers are variously affiliated with the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster University Medical Center, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; the Hospital Dr C B Udaondo, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Alicante University General Hospital, Alicante, Spain; ||Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud, Zaragoza, Spain; Hospital Universitario San Jorge, Huesca, Spain; University Hospital of León, Leon, Spain; Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico; Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay; University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; Columbia University, New York, New York; Department of Paediatrics, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand; Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; and the Università degli Studi di Salerno, Salerno, Italy.

Celiac.com 04/11/2020 - We know that people with celiac disease have higher risk of bacterial pneumonia, especially those who have not received a vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia, which is recommended for everyone with celiac disease, even if you are young. However, we don't have any good information on whether people with celiac disease might be at higher risk for viral pneumonia, which is of special interest, given the outbreak of coronavirus. Do people with celiac disease have higher risk of getting cover? Are they at greater risk for viral pneumonia? Numerous people with celiac disease have sought guidance on these and related issues from clinicians, but there's been no study so far on celiac disease and viral pneumonia risk. There have also been no studies on celiac disease and coronavirus. Without data, there's only guesswork. The questions are serious enough for researchers to make a push to gather data related to celiac disease, COVID-19, and viral pneumonia risk. Benjamin Lebwohl, MD, MS, Director of Clinical Research, The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University and colleagues have set up an online, confidential, de-identified secure registry for doctors worldwide to report cases of those with celiac disease who get Covid-19. The registry entry should be done by health care practitioners only, not patients. Dr. Lebwohl specifically mentions the increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia in people with celiac disease as one reason to look for any elevated viral pneumonia risk in celiacs, among other risks. A recent email from Dr. Lebwohl to fellow celiac researchers reads as follows: Stay tuned for more developments on this and related stories. Curious about the celiac disease, COVID-19, and viral pneumonia? Covid-19 Topics on Celiac.com Forums Keep up with the conversation or share information about coronavirus (Covid-19) and celiac disease on the Celiac.com Forum: Covid-19 Coronavirus More Susceptible to Celiacs? Covid-19 Resources Center for Disease Control UK Health Advice on Social Distancing

Celiac.com 03/18/2019 - There have been a few studies linking celiac disease to a higher risk of pneumonia and other related bacterial infections, but good data is still lacking. In an effort to clarify the picture a team of researchers recently set out to assess the risk of hospitalization for bacterial pneumonia or pneumococcal infections in a cohort of young individuals with celiac disease, compared to matched references. In all, the team looked at 213,635 residents of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, who were born in between 1989 and 2012. The team used various medical records to identify 1,294 celiac patients, along with 6,470 control patients, and to match them by age and sex. The team looked for hospital admissions for first-time cases of bacterial pneumonia and pneumococcal infection. They used Cox regression to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for cases after celiac diagnosis, and conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (OR) for cases prior to celiac diagnosis. They conducted further analyses of periods of unvaccinated follow-up. They found a total of 14 celiac patients, from a data pool totaling 9,450 person-years, who had suffered a first episode of bacterial pneumonia, compared with 42 reference subjects from nearly 50,000 person-years. People with celiac disease showed a much higher risk of bacterial pneumonia before celiac diagnosis. This risk is especially high in the year before celiac diagnosis. Celiac patients showed an insignificantly higher risk of pneumococcal infection. Children and youth with celiac disease show a substantially higher risk of bacterial pneumonia, especially in the year before celiac diagnosis. Based on the data, the researcher recommend anti-pneumococcal vaccination for all young celiac patients. Read more at Digestive and Liver Disease. The research team included Cristina Canova, Jonas Ludvigsson, Vincenzo Baldoa, Claudio Barbiellini Amideia, Loris Zanierf, and Fabiana Zingoneg. They are variously affiliated with the Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy; the Department Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Pediatrics, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden; the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; the Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, USA; the Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy; the Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, Gastroenterology Section, University Hospital of Padua, Padua, Italy; and with the Epidemiological Service, Health Directorate, in Udine, Italy.