title: Celiac disease patients presenting with anemia have more severe disease than those presenting with diarrhea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anemia is considered to be an atypical or silent presentation of celiac disease, compared with the classic presentation with diarrhea. However, little information is available about how these groups compare in terms of disease severity. We compared the severity of celiac disease between patients who present with anemia vs those who present with diarrhea.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study cohort was selected from a database of patients with celiac disease who were evaluated at a tertiary referral center between 1990 and 2011. Severity of celiac disease was assessed by the degree of villous atrophy and clinical and serologic parameters. Patients were compared according to mode of presentation and sex. Multivariable analyses, adjusting for age and sex, were conducted to assess the association between the mode of celiac disease presentation and cholesterol level, bone density, severity of villous atrophy, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and level of anti-tissue transglutaminase.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 727 patients, 77% presented with diarrhea and 23% with anemia (92% iron deficient). On multiple regression analysis, presentation with anemia was associated with lower levels of total cholesterol (P = .02) and high-density lipoprotein (P = .002) and a higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (P = .001) and level of anti-tissue transglutaminase (P = .01). Presentation with anemia was associated with lower level of cholesterol only in women. Anemic patients were more than 2-fold more likely to have severe villous atrophy and a low bone mass density at the time they were diagnosed with celiac disease than patients who presented with diarrhea.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Celiac disease patients who present with anemia have more severe disease than those who present with diarrhea. There also appear to be sex-specific differences with regard to the association between anemia and the different features of celiac disease.
authors.affiliation: Celiac Disease Center, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Hussein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abu Daya
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lebwohl
authors.forename: Suzanne K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D015519:Bone Density; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000091345:Protein Glutamine gamma Glutamyltransferase 2; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D011503:Transglutaminases / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D002784:Cholesterol; D000091345:Protein Glutamine gamma Glutamyltransferase 2; D011503:Transglutaminases; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins
keywords: Anti-tTG; BMD; BMI; CD; CI; ESR; Gluten; HDL; Hct; Iron Deficiency; LDL; OR; PVA; S/TVA; TC; TG; TVA; body mass index; bone mineral density; celiac disease; confidence interval; erythrocyte sedimentation rate; hematocrit; high-density lipoprotein; low-density lipoprotein; odds ratio; partial villous atrophy; subtotal/total villous atrophy; tissue transglutaminase antibody; total cholesterol; total villous atrophy; triglycerides