Abstract

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune enteropathy characterized by villus atrophy and malabsorption of essential nutrients. Vitamin D deficiency has been described in autoimmune diseases, but its status in prepubertal children with CD has not been adequately studied.

Objective: To determine the vitamin D status of prepubertal children with CD.

Study design: A retrospective study of prepubertal children aged 3–12 years with CD (n=24) who were compared to prepubertal, non-CD children of the same age (n=50). Children were included in the study if they had a diagnosis of CD by intestinal biopsy, and were not on a gluten-free diet (GFD). Patients were excluded if they had diseases of calcium or vitamin D metabolism, or were receiving calcium or vitamin D supplementation or had other autoimmune diseases. All subjects had their serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] level measured.

Results: There was no difference in 25(OH)D level between the CD and non-CD children (27.58±9.91 vs. 26.20±10.45, p=0.59). However, when the patients were subdivided into obese and non-obese groups, the non-obese CD patients had a significantly higher 25(OH)D level than the obese normal children (28.39±10.26 vs. 21.58±5.67, p=0.009). In contrast, there was no difference in 25(OH)D level between non-obese CD patients and non-obese normal children (28.39±10.26 vs. 30.64±12.08, p=0.52). The season of 25(OH)D measurement was not a significant confounder (p=0.7).

Conclusions: Our data showed no difference in 25(OH)D levels between normal children and those with CD when adjusted for body mass index.