Prevalence of celiac antibodies in children with neurologic disorders.
Neurologic complications are a recognized but unusual manifestation of celiac disease (CD) in adults and children. The use of antigliadin and antiendomysial antibodies in screening has revealed the frequency of CD among symptom-free individuals to be high. Recently, a high frequency (57%) of antigliadin antibodies was demonstrated in adult patients with neurologic dysfunctions of unknown cause. We investigated the yield of screening for CD in children with common neurologic disorders. One hundred sixty-seven children, 1-16 years of age, were included in the study: 41 with migraine headaches, 39 with attention-deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, 36 with epileptic disorders, and 51 with hypotonia and motor abnormalities. Positive IgG antigliadin antibodies were evident in 22 children (13%) in the study group compared with three children (9%) in the control group. However, in all children, negative IgA and endomysial antibodies were observed; thus duodenal biopsies were not performed. Contrary to studies performed in adults, these results did not demonstrate any relationship between common neurologic disorders without a specific diagnosis during childhood and CD. Thus screening for CD does not need to be routinely included in the diagnostic evaluation of children with these disorders.
Lahat
E
E
Unit of Pediatric Neurology, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Zerifin, Israel.
Broide
E
E
Leshem
M
M
Evans
S
S
Scapa
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005903:Gliadin / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence
D001323:Autoantibodies; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D005903:Gliadin