J Clin Med. 2022 Feb 18;11(4):1089. doi: 10.3390/jcm11041089.

Dimitri Poddighe ^1 2, Micol Romano ³, Kuanysh Dossybayeva ¹, Diyora Abdukhakimova ¹, Dinara Galiyeva ¹, Erkan Demirkaya ^3 4

Author information

¹Department of Medicine, Nazarbayev University School of Medicine (NUSOM), Nur-Sultan 010000, Kazakhstan.

²Clinical Academic Department of Pediatrics, National Research Center for Maternal and Child Health (NRCMCH), University Medical Center (UMC), Nur-Sultan 010000, Kazakhstan.

³Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5W9, Canada.

⁴Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5W9, Canada.

Abstract

Celiac Disease (CD) is an immune-mediated and gluten-related disorder whose prevalence is higher in children affected with other autoimmune disorders, including diabetes mellitus type 1, autoimmune thyroiditis, and others. As regards Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) and other pediatric rheumatic disorders, there is no clear recommendation for CD serological screening. In this review, we analyze all the available clinical studies investigating CD among children with JIA (and other rheumatic diseases), in order to provide objective data to better understand the necessity of CD serological screening during the follow-up. Based on the present literature review and analysis, >2.5% patients with JIA were diagnosed with CD; however, the CD prevalence in JIA patients may be even higher (>3-3.5%) due to several study limitations that could have underestimated CD diagnosis to a variable extent. Therefore, serological screening for CD in children affected with JIA could be recommended due to the increased CD prevalence in these patients (compared to the general pediatric population), and because these JIA patients diagnosed with CD were mostly asymptomatic. However, further research is needed to establish a cost-effective approach in terms of CD screening frequency and modalities during the follow-up for JIA patients. Conversely, at the moment, there is no evidence supporting a periodical CD screening in children affected with other rheumatic diseases (including pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile dermatomyositis, and systemic sclerosis).