Early Respiratory Tract Infections Predict Celiac Disease Risk

The frequency of respiratory infections within the first 2 years of life could predict the future development of celiac disease, according to the findings of a recent study.

In their study, the researchers recruited 373 newborns who had at least 1 relative with celiac disease. They followed-up with infants who were human leukocyte antigen DQ2- or DQ8- positive with clinical and serological evaluations. The risk associated with single variables was assessed using odds ratios and cross tabulation, and logistic regression was used to determine which variables contributed to the risk of developing celiac disease. In addition, the researchers used stepwise discriminate analysis to determine which variables could distinguish between patients with celiac disease prior to an official diagnosis from those without.
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A total of 134 children (14%) developed celiac disease before their 6th year of life, with a cumulative incidence of 6% at 3 years of age and of 13.5% at 5 years of age.

In analysis of adverse events, the researchers found a higher frequency of respiratory tract infections among patients with celiac disease in their first 24 months of life.

The stepwise discriminant analysis showed that only respiratory tract infections in the 2nd and 1st years of life significantly contributed to the discrimination of patients with celiac disease from those without.

“A multivariate model of discriminant analysis showed that the frequency of respiratory infections in the first 2 years of life could distinguish children who developed [celiac disease] from those who did not,” the researchers concluded.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Auricchio R, Cielo D, de Falco R, et al. Respiratory infections and the risk of celiac disease [published online October 2, 2017]. Pediatrics. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-4102.