Untreated Celiac Disease Linked To Poor Birth Outcomes Am J Gastroenterol 1999;94:2435-2440. (Celiac.com 04/10/2000) A study by Danish researchers that was published in the September issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology concludes that treating women who have celiac disease before they become pregnant improves their birth outcomes. According to Dr. Bente Norgard and colleagues of the University of Aarhus, Denmark, "Our study emphasizes the importance of encouraging fertile women to maintain a gluten-free diet once they have been diagnosed, because the time of establishing the diagnosis and subsequent treatment is the major predictor for a favorable birth outcome." The Danish team examined the outcomes of 211 newborns from 127 women with celiac disease, and compared them to 1,260 births to women without celiac disease, from data collected between 1977 and 1992 by the Danish Medical Birth Registry. Their results showed that birth outcomes were worse in women with untreated celiac disease than in women who had been hospitalized for celiac disease, and that the risk of low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation were increased 2.6 and 3.4 fold respectively when compared to the infants born to women with celiac disease and no prior hospitalization for the disease. These same risks were not increased in women with celiac disease who had prior hospitalization for it. According to Dr. Norgard, "Our results emphasize the importance of clinical awareness of this chronic disease." Their conclusion is that untreated celiac disease is a major risk factor for poor birth outcomes, and that the treatment of celiac disease in women is important in the prevention of fetal growth retardation. Screening for Celiac Disease Recommended During Pregnancy Gut 2000;46:332-335 (Celiac.com 03/17/2000) In the latest issue of Gut, Italian researchers propose that celiac disease is more common than previously thought, and that pregnant women should be screened for celiac disease. They conclude that a screening could help women to avoid negative outcomes and miscarriages. Dr. L. Greco and his colleagues from the University of Naples Federico II screened blood samples from 845 pregnant women in an effort to determine the prevalence of celiac disease. They looked for elevated levels of endomysial antibodies against tissue transglutaminase to determine how many of them had celiac disease. Out of the 845, women 12 had celiac disease (1.4%), and only 3 of the 12 had been previously diagnosed and were not following a gluten-free diet. The other nine women underwent a small intestinal biopsy to confirm their diagnosis. Out of the 12 diagnosed women, seven had either a pre-term delivery, or their babies were smaller than normal. Out of the remaining five women, four had had at least one miscarriage. Three of the babies died. When following up with 11 of the women, eight had another pregnancy and seven of them had reached term at the time of publication. Out of the eight women, five followed a gluten-free diet, and six of their babies turned out healthy. According to the researchers: "Coeliac disease is considerably more common than most of the diseases for which pregnant women are routinely screened." The authors conclude: "Consideration should be given to screening for coeliac disease in pregnancy, because of the high incidence of avoidable outcomes and the chance of reversibility through consumption of a gluten-free diet." *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html