Celiac Disease Linked to Modestly Increased Mortality
by Laurie Barclay, MD September 15, 2009 — Mortality risk is modestly increased in patients with celiac disease, inflammation, or latent celiac disease, according to the results of a retrospective cohort study reported in the September 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Studies of mortality in celiac disease have not taken small-intestinal pathology into account," write Jonas F. Ludvigsson, MD, PhD, from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues. "We used nationwide histopathology data to examine the overall risk of death in individuals with celiac disease and inflammation. Through regional data linkage, we were also able to examine mortality in latent celiac disease." The investigators studied duodenal/jejunal biopsies performed at all 28 pathology departments in Sweden between July 1969 and February 2008 on celiac disease (Marsh stage III: villous atrophy; n = 29,096 individuals) and inflammation (Marsh stage I