prevalence of celiac disease in children and adolescents with type i diabetes mellitus

the association of celiac disease and type i diabetes mellitus has been known for some time. this study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of celiac disease (cd) in diabetic children and adolescents. eighty-seven patients (44 females, 43 males) aged 2- 18 years, with type i diabetes participated in this study. a group of 87 healthy unrelated girls and boys matched for age and gender served as controls. they were screened for the presence of celiac disease related marker [iga - endomysial antibody (ema)] and patients who were ema positive further investigated with intestinal biopsy. among diabetic patients a 3.4% prevalence of celiac disease was observed, a value significantly higher than that found among healthy controls. girls were more frequently ema positive than boys. intestinal biopsies of all 3 patients with positive ema showed a histologic picture confirming the diagnosis of cd. diabetics with cd were significantly younger, had an earlier onset of diabetes, had a lower height and weight standard deviation score and poorer glycemic control compared with diabetics without cd (p