Socio-economic characteristics in children with coeliac disease.

AIM: To study the relationship between socio-economic factors and coeliac disease.

METHODS

This study was part of a prospective cohort study of 16 286 children born from 1 October 1997-1 October 1999 (the ABIS study; All Babies in Southeast Sweden). Eight paediatric departments recorded all children with coeliac disease in southeast Sweden. Coeliac disease was confirmed through biopsy. Socio-economic characteristics (maternal employment, civil status, whether parents were born in Sweden, parental education, place of living before pregnancy and during pregnancy, crowded living), infant sex, previous siblings, parental age and maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy were analysed using logistic regression. All data, except for those related to diagnosis of coeliac disease, were obtained through a questionnaire distributed at birth.

RESULTS

Coeliac disease in the offspring was less common among mothers who had worked < 3 mo during pregnancy (odds ratio, OR = 0.29; 95% CI: 0.09-0.94; p = 0.039). This risk decrease remained after adjustment for confounders (adjusted OR = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.09-0.92; p = 0.035). No other socio-economic factor was related to coeliac disease.

CONCLUSION

This study indicates that most socio-economic factors are probably of little importance to the development of coeliac disease.