Alaedini A, et al. - This study is performed to figure out whether infection with Borrelia contributes to an increased risk of celiac disease. It was concluded that the only a minor fraction of the celiac disease patient population had a prior diagnosis of Lyme disease. The similar relationship between Lyme disease and celiac disease both before and after the diagnosis of celiac disease is strongly suggestive of surveillance bias as a likely contributor. Taken together, the information shows that Borrelia infection is not a substantive risk factor in the development of celiac disease.

Methods

• Biopsy reports from all of Sweden’s pathology departments were utilized to recognize 15,769 individuals with celiac disease.
• Through linkage to the nationwide Patient Register, they compared the rate of earlier occurrence of Lyme disease in the patients with celiac disease to that in 78,331 matched controls.
• To further evaluate the temporal connection between Borrelia infection and celiac disease, they likewise analyzed the risk of subsequent Lyme disease in patients with a diagnosis of celiac disease.

Results

• 25 individuals (0.16%) with celiac disease had a prior diagnosis of Lyme disease, whereas 79 (0.5%) had a subsequent diagnosis of Lyme disease.
• A modest relationship between Lyme disease and celiac disease was seen both before (odds ratio, 1.61; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06-2.47) and after the diagnosis of celiac disease (hazard ratio, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.40-2.35), with the risk of disease being highest in the first year of follow-up.