Abstract
Celiac disease is an inflammatory disorder involving the small bowel, in addition to other organs. An inappropriate immune response to dietary gluten mainly in genetically predisposed individuals lies behind the persistent inflammation of the mucosa lining the proximal small bowel. Malabsorption in celiac disease patients lead to deficiencies in a number of minerals and vitamins. Among the affected vitamins is vitamin D. The present study aimed to figure out the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in celiac disease patients and investigate whether any vitamin D deficiency could associate with the level of autoantibodies. Forty-six early diagnosed celiac disease patients (11 males and 35 females) were consecutively recruited from Special Nursing Hospital \ Baghdad, during the period from July 2018 to February 2019. Twenty apparently healthy subjects were also recruited to serve as a control group. Age distribution of patients showed that 43.7% of patients were between 10 and 20 years old. On the other hand, 6 (13%), 1 (2.1%) and 4 (8.6%) patients were in the age groups 20-30, 30-40 and 40-50 years respectively. Female patients were more than male patients (66 and 34% respectively). Celiac disease patients had a significantly lower level of vitamin D in comparison with the control (14.3 ±9.9 and 68± 4 ng/ml respectively). In addition, 71.73% of celiac disease patients had vitamin D deficiency, 23.91% had vitamin D insufficiency, while 4.34% of celiac disease patients had vitamin D sufficiency. On the other hand, 100% of control subjects had vitamin D sufficiency. Nevertheless, no statistical difference in the level of vitamin D was found between female and male patients (15.3±10.08 and 12.58±8.9 ng/ml respectively). It can be concluded that vitamin D is significantly decreased in patients with celiac disease
Highlights
Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease which affect individuals with gluten-sensitivity
Patients distribution according to age groups shows that 32.6 and 43.7% of patients were younger than 10 years old and between 10 and 20 years old respectively, while 13, 2.1 and 8.6% were in the age groups 20-30, 30-40 and 40-50 respectively as shown in figure 1
Antibodies against transglutaminase autoantigen is considered as the hallmark of the disease in CD patients [26], and the absence of any association between vitamin D level and the concentration of autoantibodies observed in this study suggests that vitamin D deficiency may be caused by malabsorption rather than being an etiological factor of CD occurrence which has been previously suggested [27]
Summary
Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease which affect individuals with gluten-sensitivity (gliadin and glutenin). Recent studies proved that there is a significant increase in the global incidence of celiac disease especially during the last two decades. They concluded that the prevalence of the disease can vary with age and sex, in addition to the location [2)]. Based on biopsy and serological test, the worldwide prevalence of celiac disease is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.4% [3]. More comprehensive studies are needed in Asia, Latin America and South America to give a more accurate estimates of celiac disease global occurrence [2]. The main aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in newly diagnosed Iraqi CD patients
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