Dyslipidemia and Liver Function Profile in Children With Celiac Disease

Introduction: Different studies have shown variable results with respect to cholesterol levels in patients with celiac disease. The exact incidence of fatty liver or other forms of hepatic involvement is not known. Hence we decided to evaluate children with celiac disease.Materials and methods: 36 Children between the age group of 1-18 years with the diagnosis of celiac disease, Age and sex matched controls were enrolled. They were evaluated for liver dysfunction, dyslipidemia and presence of features of fatty liver on ultrasound evaluation.Results: Children with celiac disease had significantly elevated liver enzymes as compared to controls with mean values of AST and ALT being 59.47 ± 45.7 U and 41.19 ± 31.34 U as compared to 24.58 ± 10.19 U among the controls with a p value of 0.001. Total Serum Cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C levels were significantly decreased among the cases with mean values of 129.97 ± 39.29 mg/dl, 38.25 ± 12.88 mg/dl and 72.88 ± 31.26 mg/dl respectively (p value of 0.005, 0.002, and 0.040). Triglycerides were lower with a mean of 100 ± 47.04 mg/dl (p value 0.417) and the ratio of Total cholesterol to HDL-C was higher among the cases with a mean 3.59 ±1.01 but failed to show any statistically significant difference (p value 0.279). 8 (22.2%) children with celiac disease had features of fatty liver on USG compared to only 3 controls (8.3%) with a p value of 0.006.Conclusion:A significant number of celiac patients have co existing derangement in lipid profile, raised transaminases and also presence of fatty liver. Thus there is a need to regularly screen children with celiac disease for dyslipidemia, liver dysfunction and presence of fatty liver. Key words: celiac disease, lipid profile, fatty liver, liver function