Increased sedation requirements during endoscopy in patients with celiac disease

Celiac disease (CD) is associated with increased rates of neuropsychiatric disease and irritable bowel syndrome, and patients may exhibit visceral hypersensitivity.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with CD have increased sedation requirements during endoscopic procedures.

In this retrospective cohort study, we identified CD patients undergoing either a colonoscopy or esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), but not a dual procedure. CD patients were matched with control patients according to age, gender and endoscopist. For sedation requirements we defined "high" as falling outside of the 75th percentile of the entire cohort.

In the colonoscopy analysis we identified 113 CD patients and 278 controls. In the CD group, 29 individuals (26%) required high amounts of both opioids and midazolam, as compared to 46 (17%) controls (P = 0.05). Differences were similar when considering only opioids (P = 0.06) and midazolam (P = 0.06). In the EGD analysis we identified 314 CD patients and 314 controls who met the inclusion criteria. Among the CD patients, 70 (22%) required high amounts of both opioids and midazolam compared to 51 (16%) controls (P = 0.05). Differences were similar when considering only opioids (P = 0.06) and midazolam (P = 0.04).

Patients with CD require higher doses of sedation during upper and lower endoscopy compared to age and gender-matched controls. Putative explanations, such as visceral hypersensitivity, chronic opioid/anxiolytic use, or underlying neuropsychiatric illness, should be evaluated prospectively.