Familial occurrence of inflammatory bowel disease in celiac disease.
BACKGROUND
The authors have previously reported a possible increased risk of the familial occurrence of Crohn's disease in patients with celiac disease.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of the current study was to evaluate in a case-control study the familial occurrence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in first-degree relatives of patients with celiac disease.


METHODS
One hundred eleven consecutive patients with biopsy-proven celiac disease were interviewed to ascertain whether IBD was present in first-degree relatives. The number of relatives, their ages, and possible IBD status were collected in a questionnaire. When a diagnosis of familial IBD was reported, the diagnosis was checked in the hospital records. Two hundred twenty-two controls matched for age and sex (111 from the general population and 111 from orthopedic wards) were also interviewed regarding the possible occurrence of IBD in first-degree relatives. The chi2 test was used to evaluate the difference in proportion of familial occurrence of IBD among individuals with celiac disease and controls.


RESULTS
Among 600 first-degree relatives of patients with celiac disease, 10 cases of IBD were identified among first-degree relatives (7 cases of ulcerative colitis and 3 cases of Crohn's disease), whereas only 1 case of IBD was identified among the 1,196 first-degree relatives of control patients (p < 0.01). When ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease were analyzed separately, only the prevalence of ulcerative colitis was statistically significant (p </= 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
This case-control study shows that there is a significantly increased prevalence of familial ulcerative colitis in patients with celiac disease. There was no significant increase in the prevalence of Crohn's disease in patients with celiac disease. The possible role of this association is discussed.
Cottone
Mario
M
Clinica Medica R, University of Palermo, Ospedale V. Cervello, Palermo, Italy. dickens@tin.it
Marrone
Ciro
C
Casà
Angelo
A
Oliva
Lorenzo
L
Orlando
Ambrogio
A
Calabrese
Emma
E
Martorana
Giuseppe
G
Pagliaro
Luigi
L
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D015995:Prevalence