Celiac disease-related antibodies in an epilepsy cohort and matched reference population

• Published in: Epilepsy & behavior Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 388 - 392
• Main Authors: Ranua, Jouni, Luoma, Katja, Auvinen, Anssi, Mäki, Markku, Haapala, Anna-Maija, Peltola, Jukka, Raitanen, Jani, Isojärvi, Jouko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.05.2005
• Subjects: Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies; Antibodies - classification; Antibodies - metabolism; Antiendomysial antibodies; Antigliadin antibodies; Autoantibodies - immunology; Case-Control Studies; Celiac disease; Celiac Disease - epidemiology; Celiac Disease - immunology; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - methods; Epilepsy; Epilepsy - epidemiology; Epilepsy - immunology; Gliadin - immunology; Humans; Immunoglobulin A - immunology; Immunoglobulin G - immunology; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal - immunology; Odds Ratio; Population Surveillance; Prevalence; Transglutaminases - immunology; Antiendomysial antibodies; Celiac disease; Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies; Antigliadin antibodies; Epilepsy
• ISSN: 1525-5050; 1525-5069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2005.01.007

Celiac disease (CD) is a common immunologically mediated enteropathic condition manifesting in genetically predisposed individuals after exposure to wheat gluten. CD may be associated with a number of neurological disorders, and the prevalence of epilepsy is reported to be increased in patients with CD. We studied the prevalence of CD-associated antibodies in a cohort of 968 patients with epilepsy and in a population-based reference group of 584 subjects. There was no difference in the prevalence of IgA and IgG class antigliadin antibodies (AGAbA and AGAbG, respectively), endomysial antibodies (EMA), and tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGAbA) between patients with epilepsy and the control population. This suggests the presence of CD to be the same in patients with epilepsy and the reference population. However, AGAbA was more prevalent in patients with primary generalized epilepsy (19.6%) than in the reference population (10.6%, relative risk 1.8, 95% confidence interval 1.1–3.0, P = 0.012).