[The association of diabetes and celiac disease: the value of assaying antireticulin antibodies]

Abstract

The authors studied the specificity and the sensitivity of serum anti-reticulin IgA type antibody determination for the diagnosis of coeliac disease in diabetic patients. They observed a frequency of 11.1% coeliac disease among a group of 54 type I juvenile diabetic patients. The search for serum antireticulin IgA type antibodies appears to be an efficient method for identifying patients with coeliac disease; it has a specificity of 98% and a sensitivity of 95%. This marker appears to be particularly well suited for the identification of asymptomatic forms, and also for surveillance of diet during the course of coeliac disease.