Is the prevalence of celiac disease increased among epileptic patients?

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of celiac disease (CD) among a group of epileptic patients attending the Epilepsy Clinics of two general hospitals in the city of Brasilia (DF), Brazil. METHOD Serum samples were collected from 255 epileptic patients (119 children, 136 adults) originating from Epilepsy Clinics, and from a control group composed by 4405 individuals (2034 children, 2371 adults) attending the Laboratory of Clinical Analysis, for routine blood testing. The diagnosis of CD was determined by the antiendomysium antibody (IgA-EMA) test and by small intestine biopsy. RESULTS two of the 255 epileptic patients (1:127) and fifteen subjects from the control group (1:293) tested positive for the IgA-EMA assay. CONCLUSION the prevalence of CD was 2.3 times higher in epileptic patients than in controls (7.84 per 1000 versus 3.41 per 1000). Although still not statistically significant, this result is highly suggestive of an increased prevalence of CD among epileptic patients.