Stature of adult coeliac patients: no evidence for decreased attained height

Abstract

Height, weight and body mass index (BMI) in 160 adult coeliac patients, treated with a gluten-free diet for at least 18 months, were compared to an age-matched, randomly selected, normal reference population. No differences were detected in height. In fact, females tended to be slightly taller than normal. Mean weight in females was 7.31 kg (P less than 0.001) and in males 11.98 kg (P less than 0.001) lower than in the reference population, with corresponding differences in BMI. No significant differences between age-weighted mean height, weight or BMI were found between a group of subjects who had experienced abdominal symptoms and were untreated in childhood compared to a group of subjects without such symptoms. Thus, coeliac disease, which has a well-documented retarding effect on growth during childhood, does not influence the final, attained height.