Evaluation of Celiac Disease in Children with Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Background: The incidence of Celiac Disease (CD) raises in children with Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of CD in children with DCM compared with controls.
Patients and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 38 patients with DCM and 76 healthy controls to evaluate tTG and IgA during 2013 - 2014. Echocardiography was performed for all patients to detect cardiomyopathy. The exclusion criteria were IgA deficiency, history of digestive, endocrine, and metabolic disorders, iron deficiency, kidney disease, fever, and chronic diseases. Samples were centrifuged and the separated sera were kept at -70°C until tTG IgA and total IgA were measured by ELISA kit. After all, the data were entered into the SPSS statistical software, version 20 and were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric tests. Significance level was set at P < 0.05.
Results: This study was performed on 114 children; 38 in the case and 76 in the control group. The results showed no significant difference between the two groups regarding the means of continuous variables, including sex, tTG status, and diseases. From the 38 patients in the case group, 31 ones (81.58%) had normal tTG (≤ 20) and 7 ones (18.42%) had abnormal tTG (≥ 20). However, 72 participants in the control group (94.74%) showed normal tTG status (≥ 20). The results showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding tTG status (chi-square = 5.031, P = 0.025).
Conclusions: The results revealed a positive association between CD and DCM regardless of serology- or pathology-based diagnostic tools. This suggests the need for increasing awareness of patients with DCM regarding CD.