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 Researchers say that women experiencing miscarriages or preterm
deliveries should be checked for undiagnosed celiac.
While there are many more common causes of pregnancy complications,
women who don't know why they can't conceive or carry a baby to term
should find out if they have celiac disease, said lead study author
Dr. Stephanie Moleski, a researcher at Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital in Philadelphia.
"Miscarriage in celiac disease patients has been linked to vitamin
deficiencies of zinc, selenium, iron and folate," Moleski said by
email. "When I see patients who have had fertility or pregnancy
complications I feel it is appropriate to consider testing for
celiac disease."
Moleski and colleagues surveyed 329 women with biopsies confirming
celiac disease as well as 641 women without the condition. Using
online questionnaires, the researchers asked reproductive health
questions ranging from the age the women started menstruating to the
number of pregnancies they experienced and the birth circumstances
for any babies delivered.
There wasn't any difference in the number of women with or without
celiac disease who got pregnant at least once, but the women with
celiac disease were less likely to give birth, the study found.
Women with celiac disease had miscarriages about half the time,
compared with 40% of the time among the other women in the study.
About one in four women with celiac disease had premature
deliveries, compared with about 16% of the other women.
Limitations of the study, according to the April 15 Annals of
Gastroenterology online report, include its reliance on the online
questionnaires, which depend on patients having accurate
recollections, and which didn't verify whether participants had
other health conditions that might lead to miscarriages or preterm
deliveries.
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Restricting the celiac group to women diagnosed with a biopsy also
means that some women in the non-celiac group might have had
undiagnosed celiac, which would skew the results.
While previous research has linked celiac diseases to fertility and
pregnancy problems, the exact reason the condition leads to
miscarriages and premature babies is unknown, Dr. Govind Makharia, a
professor of gastroenterology and nutrition at All India Institute
of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, said by email.
"At present, the association between infertility, miscarriage,
preterm babies and celiac disease is conjectural and not
definitive," said Makharia, who wasn't involved in the study. Celiac
might be a cause, but other causes are more likely.
"However, there may not be any harm in screening for celiac
disease," Makharia said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1zl3ahj
Ann Gastroenterol 2015.
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