Risk of colorectal adenomas in patients with celiac disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Whether celiac disease increases the risk of presenting with colorectal adenoma or not, has not been extensively evaluated. This question becomes relevant when considering early screening methods in patients with the disease. The aim of our article was to determine the risk of colorectal adenomas in celiac disease patients.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A computer-assisted search of the MEDLINE-Pubmed, EMBASE, LILACS, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases was carried out, encompassing the time frame of 1966 to December 2016. The search strategy consisted of the following MESH terms: 'celiac disease' OR 'celiac sprue' AND 'colorectal' OR 'colorectal neoplasia' OR 'colorectal adenoma'. A fixed-effect model was used for the analyses. The first analysis dealt with the prevalence of all presentations of colorectal adenoma in patients with celiac disease and the second was on the prevalence of advanced adenomas. The outcomes were described as odds ratios (OR) with their 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

The search identified 480 bibliographic citations, 17 of which were chosen for evaluation. Fourteen of those studies were rejected, leaving a final total of three for the analysis. Those studies included 367 cases of celiac disease and 682 controls. No significant heterogeneity was observed (I2=26%). There was no increased prevalence of colorectal adenomas in the celiac disease patients, when compared with the controls (OR: 0.94 [0.65-1.38]), and no significant difference was observed when assessing the prevalence of advanced adenomas (OR: 0.97 [0.48-1.97]).

CONCLUSION

Celiac disease was not associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenomas. However, due to the limited evidence available, more studies are necessary to determine whether there is an actual association.