Characteristics of iron deficiency in children with celiac disease

Abstract

The iron deficiency (ID) structure was estimated in 235 children with celiac disease aged eight months to 18 years. The patients included in the study were divided into three groups: group I included 64 (27.2 %) children without ID, group II -106 (45.1 %) children with latent iron deficiency (LID), and group III -65 (27.7 %) with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). In the period of manifestation of celiac disease, ID conditions were diagnosed in 72.8 % of cases. At the same time, LID dominated the structure of ID forms in all age groups. It was found that in children with celiac disease complicated by IDA, there was a lag in the pace of physical development, as well as more pronounced gastrointestinal symptoms: vomiting was noted more often (p=0.022), bloating (p=0.027) and diarrhea (p=0.018), than in the group I. Total atrophy of the small intestine mucosa villus predominates in 87.7 % of patients with IDA. Thus, specialized laboratory and instrumental methods of diagnosing celiac disease in children should include a detailed analysis of ID.