Usefulness of screening program for celiac disease in autoimmune thyroiditis

We determined the prevalence of celiac disease in subjects with autoimmune thyroiditis compared with sick and healthy subjects. The screening was perf ormed with IgA-class endomysium antibody, by indirect immunofluorescence us ing human umbilical cord as the antigenic substrate. Six of the 172 patient s with autoimmune thyroiditis were found to be anti-endomysium positive (3. 4%) and five of these underwent intestinal biopsy, which showed total villo us atrophy. By contrast, 3 (0.75%) of 396 patients with nongastroenterologi c malignancies and 10 (0.25%) of 4000 blood donors were found to have celia c disease. The prevalence of autoimmune diseases was significantly higher i n patients with both celiac disease and autoimmune thyroiditis than in pati ents with autoimmune thyroiditis alone (P = 0.01). This study confirms that celiac disease is increased among patients with autoimmune thyroiditis. We suggest that these patients may benefit from screening for celiac disease so as to eliminate symptoms and limit the risk of developing other autoimmu ne disorders.