Asymptomatic celiac sprue in juvenile rheumatic diseases children.
BACKGROUND
Celiac disease (CD) is the most frequent enteropathy in adults and its coexistence with other autoimmune diseases is frequent.


OBJECTIVE
To detect asymptomatic CD in children with rheumatic diseases by measuring tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibodies and finding any relation to disease activity.


METHODS
Setting and study design: The study included 60 children with juvenile rheumatic diseases consecutively from those attending the Rheumatology Clinics of Cairo University Hospitals: 30 juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), 10 juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 12 juvenile seronegative spondyloarthropathy and eight juvenile systemic sclerosis/polymyositis (SSc/PM) overlap syndrome were recruited during 2010. There were 22 male and 38 female patients. Thirty matched healthy controls were included. All children were subjected to thorough history taking, clinical examination and laboratory investigations. The body mass index (BMI) for age was used. All subjects had no gastrointestinal tract symptoms suggestive of CD and the tTG antibodies (IgA and IgG) were assessed.


RESULTS
The mean age of patients was 12.03 ± 3.3 years and disease duration 4.18 ± 3.24 years. The demographic, clinical and laboratory features of the children were studied and compared. The tTG was positive in 32 (53.3%) patients compared to 20% of the controls (P = 0.03), being higher in females. In tTG-positive patients, the BMI was significantly lower, while white blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and disease activity were significantly higher.


CONCLUSIONS
tTG antibodies may be used as a screening test to identify asymptomatic CD associated with juvenile rheumatic diseases, especially those with active JRA or marked reduction in BMI.
Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Tamer A
TA
Gheita
Samar M
SM
Fawzy
Abeer M
AM
Nour El-Din
Howaida E
HE
Gomaa
D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D017285:Polymyositis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D012598:Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D025242:Spondylarthropathies / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D011503:Transglutaminases / Q000276:immunology
D001323:Autoantibodies; D011503:Transglutaminases