Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease in adults: glycemic control and diabetic complications
Acta Diabetologia, 05/17/2012
Clinical Article
Bakker SF et al. – Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) + celiac disease (CD) patients have less retinopathy compared to T1DM patients without CD. A gluten–free diet (GFD) possibly favorable affects the development of vascular complications in T1DM patients.
Methods- The authors retrospectively collected glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels before CD diagnosis, at CD diagnosis, and the most recent HbA1c levels as well as the presence of nephropathy and retinopathy.
- The control group consisted of patients with T1DM and negative CD serology matched for age, gender, T1DM duration, and HbA1c levels.
- Thirty–one patients were eligible with a median duration of T1DM and CD of 27 years (IQR 14–37) and 3 years (IQR 1–8), respectively.
- The matched control group consisted of 46 patients.
- HbA1c levels at the moment of CD diagnosis were 7.5 % (IQR 7.1–8) [58 mmol/mol] and at the most recent visit 7.4 % (IQR 6.9–7.9, P = 0.15) [57 mmol/mol] indicating no difference.
- Prevalence of retinopathy was lower in T1DM + CD group compared with controls, (38.7 vs 67.4 %, P < 0.05), whereas no difference in the prevalence of nephropathy was found between the groups (P = 0.09).
