Prevalence of celiac antibodies in children with neurologic disorders

Neurologic complications are a recognized but unusual manifestation of celi ac disease (CD) in adults and children. The use of antigliadin and antiendo mysial antibodies in screening has revealed the frequency of CD among sympt om-free individuals to be high, Recently, a high frequency (57%) of antigli adin antibodies was demonstrated in adult patients with neurologic dysfunct ions of unknown cause. We investigated the yield of screening for Co in chi ldren with common neurologic disorders. One hundred sixty-seven children, 1 -16 years of age, were included in the study: 41 with migraine headaches, 3 9 with attention-deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, 36 with ep ileptic disorders, and 51 with hypotonia and motor abnormalities. Positive IgG antigliadin antibodies were evident in 22 children (13%) in the study g roup compared with three children (9%) in the control group. However, in al l children, negative IgA and endomysial antibodies were observed; thus duod enal biopsies were not performed. Contrary to studies performed in adults, these results did not demonstrate any relationship between common neurologi c disorders without a specific diagnosis during childhood and Co, Thus scre ening for CD does not need to be routinely included in the diagnostic evalu ation of children with these disorders. (C) 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. A ll rights reserved.