Risk of dementia in patients with celiac disease: a population-based cohort study

Patients with celiac disease (CD) frequently report cognitive symptoms when they are exposed to gluten, and cognitive deficits have been quantified in patients with newly diagnosed CD.

To determine whether patients with CD have an increased risk of dementia.

Using a population-based database of older adults (age ≥50 years) with histologically proven CD (duodenal/jejunal villous atrophy) from all 28 pathology departments in Sweden, we compared the incidence of a subsequent dementia diagnosis to those of age- and gender-matched controls.

Among patients with CD (n = 8,846) and controls (n = 43,474), the median age was 63 years and 56% were female. During a median follow-up time of 8.4 years, dementia was diagnosed in 4.3% of CD patients and 4.4% of controls (HR 1.07; 95% CI 0.95-1.20). Although there was an increased risk of dementia in the first year following a diagnosis of CD (HR 1.73; 95% CI 1.15-2.61), this risk was not present in the whole observation period. Among those subjects with a dementia subtype specified, the increased risk was restricted to vascular dementia (HR 1.28; 95% CI 1.00-1.64) and was not present for Alzheimer's dementia (HR 1.12; 95% CI 0.91-1.37).

Patients with CD are not at increased risk for dementia overall, though subgroup analysis suggests that they may be at increased risk for vascular dementia.