Celiac Disease in Children with Moderate-to-Severe Iron-deficiency Anemia.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the proportion of children with moderate to severe iron-deficiency anemia who have associated celiac disease.

METHODS

This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among children aged 1 to 12 years of age with moderate-to-severe iron deficiency anemia and control children without anemia. Serum IgA-tissue trans-glutaminase levels were assessed in both cases and controls. All children with positive celiac serology underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and duodenal biopsy; biopsy finding of Marsh grade 3 was considered positive for celiac disease.

RESULTS

There were 152 anemic children and 152 controls with mean (SD) hemoglobinof 7.7 (1.8) and 12.2 (0.74) g/dL, respectively. 16 (10.5%) cases and 3 (2%) control patients had positive serology for celiac disease [OR (95% CI) 5.33 (1.52-18.67), P=0.007]. Six (3.9%) children with iron-deficiency anemia and none of the controls had biopsy features diagnostic of celiac disease.

CONCLUSION

In the Northern Indian tertiary-care hospital outpatient setting, Celiac disease was associated with 4% of children presenting with moderate-to-severe anemia.