IM Pinto-Sanchez et al. Gastroenterol 2020; 159: 884-903. Association Between Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Celiac Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Methods: The authors identified 65 relevant studies after searching databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Web of Science, CINAHL, DARE, and SIGLE through June 25, 2019 for studies assessing the risk of CeD in patients with IBD, and IBD in patients with CeD

Key findings:

• Among patients with celiac disease, there was an increased risk of IBD vs controls (RR 9.88; 95% CI 4.03–24.21); the risk was greater for Crohn’s disease than ulcerative colitis
• Among patients with inflammatory bowel disease, there was an increased risk of celiac disease vs controls (risk ratio [RR] 3.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.23–7.02); however, this finding needs to be interpreted with a lot more caution.
  • The population-based studies that identified this risk relied on ICD codes.
  • Celiac diagnosis is much more difficult in patients with IBD. Overdiagnosis is possible due to increased surveillance, and misinterpretation of serology (eg. false positive serology). In addition, the pooled prevalence in this study of 0.75%, while greater than the controls of 0.3%, remains lower that the current worldwide prevalence of approximately 1%.
  • Only more prospective cohort studies will prove a definitive increase in risk.

My take: In patients with either IBD or celiac disease, clinicians should consider additional diagnoses in patients with ongoing symptoms.