Parental celiac disease and risk of asthma in offspring: a Danish nationwide cohort study

Abstract

ObjectiveThe incidences of celiac disease (CD) and asthma are increasing and the two conditions are associated in individuals. Risk of asthma may be passed on to the next generation through shared risk factors. We examined whether parental CD is associated with risk of asthma in offspring.MethodsWe conducted a population-based Danish nationwide cohort study, using medical databases, covering the period 1 January 1979 to 31 December 2009. For each child with a parental history of CD, we randomly sampled 100 children without this history from the children born in the same calendar year. We used Cox proportional-hazards regression to estimate incidence rate ratios for asthma, adjusting for measured covariates.ResultsWe identified 1,107 children with a parental history of CD and 110,700 children without this parental history. During up to 32 years of follow-up, 6,125 children received a hospital diagnosis of asthma. The adjusted incidence rate ratio for asthma associated with a parental history of CD was 1.09 (95% confidence interval: 0.86–1.39) and was similar for maternal and paternal CD. Inclusion of asthma-medication in the definition of asthma did not substantially change the results.ConclusionThere was no convincing evidence of an increased risk of asthma among offspring of parents with CD.

Review of Celiac Disease Presentation in a Pediatric Tertiary Centre

“…On the other hand, Kero et al (25) reported a cumulative incidence of asthma in children with CD (24.6%) significantly higher than in children without CD (3.4%; P<0.001) and Ress et al (26) showed that CD prevalence in children with active atopic dermatitis was more than four times as high as in randomly selected children. Some studies have suggested that the association between CD (T-helper cell type 1 disease) and atopy (T-helper cell type 2 disease) may be the result of vitamin D deficiency and subsequently insufficient Treg-cell capacity and shared risk factors (27,28) .…”

Prevalence of Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis in Children with Celiac Disease

“…5 cannot be completely excluded (31,32). A cohort study that examined the association between CD and asthma from a different perspective found no increased risk of asthma in the children of parents diagnosed with CD (33). A different case-control study conducted in Italy concluded that CD is not associated with atopy (34).…”