Association between small-bowel mucosal damage and related diseasesObservational study in celiac patients

Resumen

Celiac disease is a systemic, chronic and autoimmune disorder that affects genetically susceptible individuals. Due to the increasing incidence of this pathology and the precision of new detection methods, celiac disease diagnosis has improved dramatically in recent years. Hereby, a study was performed to evaluate celiac disease’s prevalence, attending to associated diseases as well as clinical determinants. A convenience sample of 254 patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2017 in the South of Spain was selected: 212 were confirmed for celiac disease, 18 remained with suspected celiac disease and 24 were considered silent patients. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied to patients’ data. 95.3% of the subjects obtained a positive result in the genetic-molecular diagnosis, with prevalence of female patients’ group (58.7%). Moreover, females were associated with diarrhea and abdominal pain to a greater extent (54.3% and 66.2%, respectively). Youngsters had accused villi atrophy and larger concentrations of anti-tTG antibodies compared to adults, but had more adhesion to treatment and recovered better than the older group. Deficit in Fe and multimorbidity were also factors associated with villi atrophy. The multivariate analysis adjusted for sex and age showed a direct association between intestinal lesion and Fe deficit, the presence of vomiting and the number of diseases associated with celiac disease. Novel results of the present study refer to the association between the level of intestinal injury and the multimorbidity associated with celiac disease.