title: Blood levels of lead and mercury and celiac disease seropositivity: the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
abstract: Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease with increasing prevalence in the USA. CD leads to decreased absorption of many nutrients including certain divalent metals. On the other hand, recent cross-sectional studies suggest the associations between trace heavy metal exposure and autoimmunity. We aimed to determine if there is an association between CD autoimmunity and blood levels of heavy metals in the general US population. We used nationally representative data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009-2012. Our study comprised 3643 children (ages 6-17 years) and 11,040 adults (age ≥18 years). Children with CD seropositivity had significantly lower blood lead (0.56 versus 0.80 μg/dL, P = 0.001) and mercury levels (0.47 versus 0.64 μg/L, P = 0.001). In the linear regression model, CD seropositivity was associated with lower levels of blood lead and mercury in children (β = -0.14, P = 0.03 for lead and β = -0.22, P = 0.008 for mercury), but not in adults. These findings of CD-heavy metals association are, to our knowledge, novel, and we conclude that decreased levels of heavy metals in blood are most likely a consequence of CD in the US children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 125 Nashua St, Suite 920, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. elena.kamycheva@unn.no.|Medical Clinic, University Hospital of North Norway, Sykehusveien 38, 9038, Tromsoe, Norway. elena.kamycheva@unn.no.|Endocrine Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Hansine Hansens veg 18, 9017, Tromsoe, Norway. elena.kamycheva@unn.no.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0642-5125
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kamycheva
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 125 Nashua St, Suite 920, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.|Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Tadahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 125 Nashua St, Suite 920, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.|Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Camargo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000097:blood*; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007854:Lead; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Celiac disease; Lead; Mercury; NHANES; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Tissue transglutaminase IgA