Abstract
BACKGROUND: A higher prevalence of celiac disease (CD) has been reported in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) compared to the general population. Factors related to the increased risk of co-occurrence and associated disease course have not been fully elucidated. Aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of CD in a large Southern Italian cohort of children with JIA, describe their clinical features and disease course and investigate risk factors associated with their co-occurrence. FINDINGS: Demographic, clinical and laboratory data of all patients with JIA admitted to our Pediatric Rheumatology Unit from January 2001 to June 2019, who underwent CD screening, were retrospectively extracted from clinical charts and analyzed. Eight of 329 JIA patients were diagnosed with CD, resulting in a prevalence higher than the general Italian population (2.4% vs 0.93%, p < 0.05). Familiarity for autoimmunity was reported by 87.5% patients with JIA and CD compared to 45.8% of those without CD (p < 0.05). 87.5% patients with JIA and CD required both a conventional Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drug (DMARD) and a biological DMARD over time compared to 36.4% of those without CD (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: A higher CD prevalence was found in a large JIA cohort, supporting the need for CD screening in all JIA children, especially those with a family history of autoimmunity, found to be associated with the co-occurrence of the two diseases. This is clinically relevant since patients with CD and JIA more often required a step-up therapy, suggesting a more severe JIA clinical course.