A recent study (L Emilsson et al. Gastroenterol 2020; 159: 1686-1694. Full/open access: Risk of Small Bowel Adenocarcinoma, Adenomas, and Carcinoids in a Nationwide Cohort of Individuals With Celiac Disease) quantifies the risk of small bowel adenocarcinoma in individuals with celiac. Using a Swedish nationwide cohort with a median follow-up of 11 years, the authors identified 48,119 individuals with CD (patients) and 239,249 reference individuals.
Key findings:
- Beginning at 1 year after a diagnosis of CD, 29 patients (0.06%) received a diagnosis of small bowel adenocarcinoma vs 45 reference individuals (0.02%).
- HRs were small bowel adenocarcinoma 3.05, carcinoids 0.59, and adenomas 5.73.).
- Overall, there was 1 extra case of small bowel adenocarcinoma in every 2944 patients with CD followed for 10 years.
- There was an inverse association between mucosal healing risk of future small bowel adenocarcinoma (HR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.02–1.61), although the HR failed to attain statistical significance.
It is important to note that lymphoma is much more common malignancy than adenocarcinoma in celiac disease. The authors, in their discussion, state: “compared with lymphomas, small bowel adenocarcinomas were approximately 10 times less common in patients with CD.” At the same time, with the discovery of milder cases of Celiac disease, lymphoma risk is not nearly as high as previously suggested. A large cohort study (Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2012; 10: 30-36) of ~45,000 did not see an increased risk of GI cancers beyond the first year after diagnosis. In addition, another study (Gastroenterology 2010; 139: 763), found that mortality NOT worsened in undiagnosed celiac disease (identified by review of serology) in Olmstead County, though bone density decreased. n=129 of 16,847. (?milder cases undiagnosed). Related post: Good News For Celiac Disease
My take (mostly borrowed from authors): There is a tiny increase in risk of “small bowel adenomas and adenocarcinomas in patients with diagnosed CD, but only a very marginal increase in terms of absolute risk. Our results do not imply a need for surveillance but celiac individuals with signs or symptoms of malignancy should merit further investigation for small bowel adenocarcinoma. Mucosal healing was strongly associated with lower risk of small bowel adenocarcinoma, although the association failed to reach statistical significance.’ Lymphoma is a more common malignancy associated with CD but the absolute risk remains low.
Related blog posts:
- Celiac Disease: “”80 percent of success is just showing up” | gutsandgrowth
- AGA Practice Guidelines for Celiac Disease | gutsandgrowth
- What is Gluten-Free? | gutsandgrowth
- ESPGHAN Guidelines for Diagnosing Coeliac Disease 2020 | gutsandgrowth
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Hi, Jay. I hope you are doing well. I so much enjoy your Guts and Growth reviews and admire your discipline and skill in accomplishing these helpful reviews week after week. In this commentary about the risk of malignancy in celiac disease, I wish you had at least acknowledged the association with lymphomas which I believe is still reason for concern. I realize this was not the focus of the manuscript, but the title of the post focuses generically on malignancy while the authors did not focus on all malignancies (like lymphomas), they focused on epithelial neoplasms. Hope to see you in Nashville this fall.
John,
Thanks for the feedback. I am updating the post -you are right. In the discussion of this article, lymphoma was noted to be 10 times the risk of adenocarcinoma.