Pregnancy outcome of patients with known celiac disease.
OBJECTIVE
Celiac disease is a permanent intolerance to gluten, probably induced by an autoimmune mechanism. Controversy exists regarding the association between celiac disease and infertility, abortions, intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR) and stillbirths. The present study was designed to investigate pregnancy outcome of patients with celiac disease.


METHODS
A retrospective comparison between all pregnancies of women with and without known celiac disease, delivered during the years 1988-2002, was conducted.


RESULTS
During the study period there were 48 deliveries of patients with celiac disease and 143,663 pregnancies of patients without known celiac disease. No statistically significant differences were noted between the groups regarding maternal or perinatal outcomes, including fertility treatments (0% among patients with known celiac versus 2.5% among patients without known celiac sprue; p=0.267), recurrent abortions (0 versus 5.2%; p=0.103), perinatal mortality (2.1 versus 1.4%; p=0.668). However, higher rates of labor induction (29.2 versus 11.9%; p<0.001) and IUGR (6.3 versus 2.1%; p=0.042) were found among patients with celiac disease as compared to patients without known celiac disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The course of pregnancy of patients with celiac disease including perinatal outcomes is favorable. Since we found higher rates of IUGR, careful surveillance should be performed for early detection of IUGR. Further, prospective studies should focus on screening for celiac disease among patients presenting with IUGR of an unknown etiology.
Sheiner
Eyal
E
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 151, Be'er-Sheva, Israel. sheiner@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
Peleg
Roni
R
Levy
Amalia
A
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007751:Labor, Induced; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012189:Retrospective Studies