Celiac Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Celiac Disease, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, causes, diet.

Cardiomyopathy, pericarditis and myocarditis in a population-based cohort of inpatients with coeliac disease.

Elfström P, Hamsten A, Montgomery SM, Ekbom A, Ludvigsson JF

Department of Paediatrics, Orebro University Hospital, Orebro, Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the risk of myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, and pericarditis in patients with celiac disease (CD) from a general population cohort. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Through the Swedish national registers we identified 9363 children and 4969 adults with a diagnosis of CD (1964-2003). These individuals were matched with upto five reference individuals for age, sex, calendar year and county (n = 69 851). Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for later heart disease. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Myocarditis, cardiomyopathy (any or dilated), and pericarditis defined according to relevant international classification of disease codes in the Swedish national inpatient register. RESULTS: Celiac disease diagnosed in childhood was not associated with later myocarditis (HR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.0-1.5), cardiomyopathy of any type (HR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.2-3.7), or pericarditis (HR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.1-1.9). Restricting our analyses to adulthood CD and heart disease diagnosed from 1987 and onwards in departments of cardiology/internal medicine, we found no association between CD and later myocarditis (HR = 2.1; 95% CI = 0.4-11.7), dilated cardiomyopathy (HR = 1.7; 95% CI = 0.4-6.5) or pericarditis (HR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.5-4.0). CONCLUSION: This study found no association between CD, later myocarditis, cardiomyopathy or pericarditis.

Published 22 October 2007 in J Intern Med, 262(5): 545-54.
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