Effectiveness of Treating Previously Untreated Patients with Both a Gluten Free Diet and Bisphosphonate, Gluten Free Diet Alone

.. Objective: To evaluate effectiveness of treating previously untreated patients with celiac disease with both a gluten free diet and bisphosphonate in order to significantly increase their BMD’s to a greater extent than a gluten free diet alone. Patients and methods: The study was conducted in National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Karachi to evaluate the effectiveness of treating previously untreated patients with celiac disease with a gluten free diet and bisphosphonate in terms of increase in bone mineral density in comparison to a gluten free diet alone over a period of three months (January 2013 – March 2013). The study includes 30 children patients below fifteen years of age either sex. All study subjects were untreated celiac patients diagnosed by clinical presentation, small bowel histology and serologic testing. On day dexa scan was done. Fifteen patients kept on Gluten Free Diet (GFD) and remaining 15 patients kept GFD plus tablet of bisphosphonate. After three months dexa scan was repeated. The patients with other disease of bone or mineral metabolism, as well as subjects taking systemic glucocorticoids or high doses of thyroid hormones, were excluded. Results: A total of 30 patients with celiac disease were included in this study. Out of 30 patients 18 (60%) were female and 12 (40%) male (M: F = 1:1.5). Thirty patients were divided in two equal groups (15 patients in each group). In group-I we gave gluten free diet and in group-II we gave gluten free diet and one tablet of bisphosphonate. Mean± SD of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) in group-I was 0.402± 0.081 gm/cm2 (range=0.234 – 0.503 gm/cm2), and in group-II was 0.543± 0.098 gm/cm2 (range= 0.402 – 0.743 gm/cm2), mean difference of bone mineral density was significant between two groups (P-value=0.0002). Conclusions: At three months DEXA scan showed a significant rise in BMD in group-II as compared to group-I