Cardiomyopathy, pericarditis and myocarditis in a population‐based cohort of inpatients with coeliac disease

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the risk of myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, and pericarditis in patients with celiac disease (CD) from a general population cohort. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Through the Swedish national registers we identified 9363 children and 4969 adults with a diagnosis of CD (1964-2003). These individuals were matched with upto five reference individuals for age, sex, calendar year and county (n = 69 851). Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for later heart disease. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Myocarditis, cardiomyopathy (any or dilated), and pericarditis defined according to relevant international classification of disease codes in the Swedish national inpatient register. RESULTS: Celiac disease diagnosed in childhood was not associated with later myocarditis (HR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.0-1.5), cardiomyopathy of any type (HR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.2-3.7), or pericarditis (HR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.1-1.9). Restricting our analyses to adulthood CD and heart disease diagnosed from 1987 and onwards in departments of cardiology/internal medicine, we found no association between CD and later myocarditis (HR = 2.1; 95% CI = 0.4-11.7), dilated cardiomyopathy (HR = 1.7; 95% CI = 0.4-6.5) or pericarditis (HR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.5-4.0). CONCLUSION: This study found no association between CD, later myocarditis, cardiomyopathy or pericarditis.