Objective: Detection the presumptive prevalence of
silent celiac disease in patients with type 1 diabetes
mellitus with determination of which gender more
likely to be affected.
Methods: One hundred twenty asymptomatic patients
[75 male , 45 female] with type 1 diabetes mellitus
with mean age ± SD of 11.25 ± 2.85 year where
included in the study . All subjects were serologically
screened for the presence of anti-tissue transglutaminase
IgA antibodies (anti-tTG antibodies) by Enzyme-
Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) & total IgA
was also measured for all using radial
immunodiffusion plate . Anti-tissue transglutaminase
IgG was selectively done for patients who were
expressing negative anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA
with low total IgA levels & results were compared
to that obtained from healthy 60 persons with mean
age ± SD for them was 15.25 ± 3.85 year .
Results : Fourteen out of one hundred twenty (11.66
% ) diabetic patients had expressed positivity to antitissue
transglutaminase IgA compared to 1/60 ( 1.66
%) of non diabetic patients who had expressed such
positivity , P value equals to 0.0221 & it is
considered to be statistically significant. Three out of
one hundred twenty (2.5 % ) diabetic patients had
expressed total IgA deficiency whereas all of non
diabetic patients were expressing total IgA within
the normal range , P value equals to 0.55 & it is
considered to be not statistically significant. All of
three diabetic patients with total IgA deficiency were
not showing positivity to anti-tissue transglutaminase
IgG . Six mals & Eight female of those with type 1
diabetes mellitus had expressed positivity to anti-tissue
transglutaminase IgA , P value equals to 0.1426 &
it is considered to be not statistically significant .
Conclusion : There is an increased prevalence of IgA antitissue transglutaminase antibodies ( 11.66 % ) in children & adolescent with type 1 diabetes mellitus in comparison with control group.