Celiac disease and recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a report and review of the literature

Abstract

Celiac disease (CD) is a condition related to the small intestine's intolerance to gluten. The diagnosis of CD can be difficult, especially because patients may exhibit a wide spectrum of signs and symptoms. It is important to identify this disease process early because affected individuals have an increased risk for developing lymphoma of the gut. Our objective was to evaluate whether patients with CD have a significantly higher prevalence of recurrent aphthous stomatitis compared with the general population, as some investigators have speculated. Therefore, we screened 61 patients with diagnosed CD for the presence of, or a positive history of, aphthous ulcerations. We then statistically compared this data with a randomly selected control population, matched for age and gender, but without CD. Our results demonstrated no significant differences between groups for age, gender, or prevalence of recurrent aphthous stomatitis.