Prevalence of celiac disease in Iranian patients with irritable bowel syndrome: A cross-sectional study.

Objective This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of celiac disease (CD) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and its subtypes in a group of Iranian patients. Methods From March 2007 to June 2009, 465 consecutive patients who were referred to the gastroenterology clinic of Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences and fulfilled the Rome III criteria for IBS were included. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) anti-tissue transglutaminase (IgA-tTG) and anti-gliadin antibody ( AGA) levels were measured. CD was confirmed by gastroduodenoscopy and biopsy in patients with abnormal antibodies. Results Five patients had only elevated IgA-tTG, 26 with only elevated AGA, and in 16 patients abnormal results for both antibodies were reported. Duodenal biopsies from these 47 patients confirmed CD in 13 (2.8%, 95% CI 1.6-4.0%) according to the Marsh criteria. Two CD patients had normal IgA-tTG concentrations while only one patient with normal AGA was proven to have CD. CD was most prevalent in unsubtyped IBS (4.9%, 95% CI 1.1-8.7%), followed by mixed IBS (4.7%, 95% CI 0.3-9.1%). In multiple comparison, CD was less common in diarrhea-predominant IBS than in unsubtyped IBS, although this did not reach statistical significance (1.0% vs 4.9%, P = 0.057). Conclusions CD in unsubtyped IBS had a growing trend to be more common than in diarrhea-predominant IBS. Evaluation of IBS patients for CD is advisable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]