title: Screening children with severe short stature for celiac disease using tissue transglutaminase.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This prospective study was planned with the aim to determine the prevalence of anti-tissue transglutaminase in children and adolescents with severe short stature (<-3 SD) attending the Pediatric outpatient, inpatient and/or the Pediatric Gastroenterology clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  All children in age group of 1-18 years having height less than -3 SD for their age and sex, were included. For each child age and sex matched healthy control (height more than -2 SD) was taken. The included subjects (study & control group) were subjected to anti tissue transglutaminase (tTG) (IgA) antibody assay estimation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 112 cases, 23 were tTG positive, giving a prevalence of 20.5% for seropositivity among cases of short stature while all the controls were seronegative for tTG. All the 23 had tTG values above 40 U/ml and 11 had values above 100 U/ml. On univariate analysis we found that the presence of chronic diarrhea (OR = 2.55, 95%CI - 1.08-5.98), bulky stools (OR = 3.03, 95%CI - 1.52-6.05), hemoglobin < 7 gm/dl (OR = 3.12, 95%CI - 1.55-6.29) and more severe short stature (<-4 SD) (OR = 0.41, 95%CI - 0.17-0.95) had significant association with the tTG positivity. On logistic regression analysis in all cases, hemoglobin < 7gm/dl (OR = 0.090, 95%CI = 0.024-0.342) and bulky stools (OR=0.212, 95%CI = 0.069-0.649) were significantly associated with tTG positivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than one fifth of all severe short stature are seropositive for tTG and the chances of seropositivity increases if severe anemia and bulky stool are also associated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, J.N. Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Faraz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: Indu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sherwani
authors.forename: Syed M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001827:Body Height; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011503:Transglutaminases / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011503:Transglutaminases