THURSDAY, April 16 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are more than four times as likely as those without the condition to have biopsy-proved celiac disease, according to research published in the April 13 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Alexander C. Ford, M.D., of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 14 studies involving 4,204 unselected patients, including 2,278 (54 percent) who met the diagnostic criteria for irritable bowel syndrome.
The researchers found that the pooled prevalence of positive IgA-class antigliadin antibodies, either positive endomysial antibodies or tissue transglutaminase, and biopsy-proved celiac disease were 4 percent, 1.63 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. Compared to controls, the investigators found that subjects with irritable bowel syndrome had pooled odds ratios for positive IgA-class antigliadin antibodies, either positive endomysial antibodies or tissue transglutaminase, and biopsy-proved celiac disease of 3.40, 2.94 and 4.34, respectively.
"If screening is to be undertaken, then endomysial antibody or tissue transglutaminase antibody testing should be preferred to IgA-class antigliadin antibody testing because of a higher positive predictive value, although the yield will depend on the prevalence in the population being studied," the authors conclude.
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