Frequency of Celiac Disease in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Insights From a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Many published studies have shown that the prevalence of celiac disease (CD) is higher in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS); however, the current available evidence is controversial. Moreover, controversy exists regarding the routine screening of CD in IBS patients, as the available results show conflicting evidence. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of CD in individuals with IBS presenting at a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: This one-year cross-sectional study was performed at District Headquarters (DHQ) Teaching Hospital, Gujranwala, Pakistan, between January 2019 and January 2020. A total of 260 persons, who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were selected through a non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Patients having positive anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-TTG) IgA and IgG antibodies were diagnosed as having probable celiac disease (PCD). Data were collected and compiled using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Post-stratification, the chi-squared test was applied, taking p≤0.05 as significant. Results: The mean age of the patients was 49.4±18.5 years. Gender distribution showed that 168 (64.6%) were males, while 92 (35.4%) were females. Among 260 patients, 39 (15%) were diagnosed with CD. Duration of IBS is associated with increased prevalence of CD, and this association is statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: Patients with IBS, irrespective of age and gender, are more susceptible to develop CD compared to the general population. Based on these findings, we recommend routine screening for CD with serologic markers in all IBS patients to identify individuals with latent or potential CD.