Prevalence of Celiac Disease in Patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) frequently coexists with other autoimmune diseases, including celiac disease (CeD). Although the prevalence of CeD is high among cohorts with PBC, few studies have directly compared this prevalence to those among individuals with other liver diseases (OLD).

To compare the prevalence of CeD between a cohort with PBC and a cohort with OLD.

Retrospective study from January 2013 to December 2016. All consecutive patients with an anti-transglutaminase (tTG) assay requested by a hepatologist and a diagnosis of chronic liver disease were included. CeD diagnosis was confirmed by duodenal biopsies.

We included 399 consecutive patients (53.1 years SD 14.0, 54.1% women), notably 51 individuals with PBC and 348 individuals with OLD. PBC group included significantly more women (90.2% versus 48.9% P < 0.0001). The prevalence of CeD was higher in the group with PBC compared to the group with OLD (11.8 versus 2.9%, P < 0.003). In the OLD group, the prevalence of CeD was comparable regardless of the etiologic subgroup (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis 2.7% versus alcoholic liver disease 4.3%, versus viral 1.5% versus other autoimmune liver diseases 3.3%, NS). The presence of gastrointestinal symptoms at the time of the tTG assay was comparable between PBC and OLD groups (31.4 versus 29.6%, NS).

There is a higher prevalence of CeD in the PBC group compared to other liver diseases.