Original ArticlePrevalence of Autoimmune Thyroiditis in Children with Celiac Disease and Effect of Gluten Withdrawal
Section snippets
Patients
Children with biopsy-proven CD (n = 324) from Sardinia (223 girls; mean age at diagnosis, 6.6 years; range, 10 months to 18 years), followed between 1992 and 2007 (mean follow-up period, 8 years) at the Pediatric Gastroenterological Unit in Cagliari, Italy, were included in the study. Clinical data were collected retrospectively; affected family members of probands, patients with preexisting autoimmune conditions (type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid disorders, Addison's disease), and patients
Results
Clinical data of patients with CD with AT are summarized in Table II (available at www.jpeds.com).
Overall AT was found in 34 (28 girls, 6 boys) of 324 patients with CD; 23 were on GFD when AT was diagnosed (Table III). Considered as a whole, a high prevalence of AT among children with CD (10.5%), compared with the Sardinian pediatric background population (2.92%), was found (P = 2.9−13). This prevalence is similar to or even lower than that reported in other studies conducted in adults and
Discussion
Our study documents the association between AT and CD in Sardinian children. Because it includes a large number of subjects, it provides the actual prevalence of AT in our pediatric population with CD. Previous studies on the prevalence of AT in Sardinian patients with CD, or vice versa on the occurrence of CD in AT, have been conducted only in adults.9, 28
We found that the prevalence of AT in CD is about 4 times greater than that found in the age matched Sardinian schoolchildren background
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Supported by a grant from Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, Germany (R.-D.J.). The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest, real or perceived.