title: Idiopathic chronic urticaria and celiac disease.
abstract: Idiopathic chronic urticaria (ICU) is a chronic relapsing cutaneous disease. Some case reports or studies on small series of celiac disease (CD) patients have suggested a possible association between CD and ICU. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of CD in a population of adults ICU patients with respect to healthy controls. We consecutively enrolled 80 patients affected by ICU and 264 blood donors as the control population without a history of ICU. Serum anti-transglutaminase IgG and anti-endomysium IgA antibodies were evaluated in all subjects. In the case of positivity to serology, diagnosis was confirmed by duodenal biopsy. One of 80 (1.25%) ICU patients were positive to both anti-transglutaminase and anti-endomysium antibodies. Duodenal biopsy showed partial villous atrophy. One control of 264 (0.38%) had CD. No statistical difference was found in the prevalence of CD between the two groups. ICU patients do not seem to bear a greater risk for CD compared to the general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gabrielli
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Candelli
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cremonini
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ojetti
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santarelli
authors.forename: Enrico C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Nista
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nucera
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schiavino
authors.forename: Giampiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Patriarca
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gasbarrini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pola
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gasbarrini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014581:Urticaria / Q000150:complications*