TITLE:
Celiac disease as potential obstacle to childbearing
AUTHORS:
Mónika Kovács, Mária Szenes, Tihamér Horváth, György Vajda, Beáta Gasztonyi, György Bártfai
KEYWORDS:
Celiac Disease; Gluten-Free Diet; Anti-Tissue-Transglutaminase Antibody; Infertile Couples
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.4 No.2,
February
11,
2014
ABSTRACT:
AIM: The authors have aimed at confirming or excluding
gluten sensitivity in infertile couples. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 2004 and
2010, at our outpatient clinics of immunology, both partners of 223 couples,
who had striven for having a child unsuccessfully, underwent history taking,
physical examination, laboratory and immuno-serologic tests including
anti-tissue-transglutaminase antibody (antitTG), as well as deep duodenal
biopsy in antibody-carrying patients. RESULTS: Antibodies against tissue
transglutaminase were positive in 6/223 female patients of whom the diagnosis
of celiac disease was histologically confirmed in 3/223 cases (1.34%). Of the
male patients 2/223 (0.9%) have proven to be carriers of the antibody;
histology was pathognomonic in both of them. Curiously, one of the male
patients with celiac disease has been the partner of a woman who also had celiac disease diagnosed by the authors. In
the followup period, a female patient and the female member of the
couple with celiac disease gave birth to healthy newborns after spontaneous
conception, as the result of a strictly kept gluten-free diet, as well as
occasional treatments of acetylsalicylate for antiphos-pholipid syndrome or
levothyroxine for latent hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis. CONCLUSION:
The results underline that it is worth performing a screening for celiac
disease in both partners of couples assessed
due to the lack of success in having a child, as infertility can be ceased by
an appropriate diet.