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Multicenter Study
. 2006 Sep;4(3):180-3.
doi: 10.3121/cmr.4.3.180.

The prevalence of growth hormone deficiency and celiac disease in short children

Diletta Giovenale  1 , Cristina Meazza, Giuliana M Cardinale, Maddalena Sposito, Costanzo Mastrangelo, Beatrice Messini, Giuseppe Citro, Maurizio Delvecchio, Salvatore Di Maio, Mauro Bozzola
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

The prevalence of growth hormone deficiency and celiac disease in short children

Diletta Giovenale et al. Clin Med Res. 2006 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the occurrence of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in patients with celiac disease (CD) referred for short stature.

Design: A retrospective, multi-center study. A total of 7066 children with short stature were referred to a number of centers for second-line evaluation over a 5-year period. All patients were screened for CD by antiendomysial antibodies (EMA) and antitissue transglutaminase IgA. Those with positive sera underwent intestinal biopsy. The EMA-negative patients and the EMA-positive ones who did not grow after 1 year of gluten-free diet underwent endocrinological investigation.

Results: Among the 7066 short children (age 2-14 years) evaluated, 650 (9.2%) had GHD and 44 (0.63%) had CD. An association of both CD and GHD was found in 16 short children (0.23%); these children did not grow after 1 year of gluten-free diet and therefore GH treatment was started.

Conclusions: GH secretion should be evaluated in celiac patients showing no catch-up growth after an appropriate period on a gluten-free diet in spite of reversion to seronegativity for EMA.

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