ESPE Abstracts

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of Celiac disease (CD) and autoimmune thyroid dysfunction (AITD) in children with Type 1 Diabetes.

Study Design: The analysis included 177 (83 girls, 94 boys) children and adolescents with a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes who were followed up for a duration of more than 2years at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, a tertiary care hospital in Northern India.

Results: Biopsy-confirmed CD was present in 18 (10.16%) children. Duration of diabetes at the time of CD diagnosis was <2 years in 13 (72.22%), >2–5 years in 4 (21.05%), and >5 years in 2 (10.52%) children. Celiac disease was found in 11/94 (11.7%) boys and 8/83 (9.63%) girls.

We found 28 (15.81%) cases of autoimmune thyroid dysfunction, 27 (15.25%) cases of hypothyroidism and 1 of hyperthyroidism. Duration of diabetes at the time of diagnosis of AITD was <2year in 17 (60.71%), >2-5years in 4 (14.28%), >5years in 3 (10.71%) children. AITD was present in 3 (10.71%) children prior to the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. AITD was present in 18/83 (21.68%) girls and 10/94 (10.63%) boys.

Conclusion: CD and AITD are common comorbidities in children with Type 1 Diabetes. The findings support routine screening for CD & AITD in patients with Type 1 diabetes, particularly within the first 2 years after the diagnosis of diabetes. The prevalence estimate for CD is slightly higher in our study compared with a review conducted over three continents where an overall prevalence of 3.5% (1.9-7.7%) was reported. The difference in the prevalence could be because of the smaller number of children included in the study.