Celiac disease and autoimmune thyroid disease

Article Outline

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What is the long term clinical significance of anti-thyroid antibodies detected during surveillance of patients with celiac disease? In this issue of The Journal, Cassio et al have shown that despite a high prevalence of positive screening tests for autoimmune thyroiditis, the rate of development of clinical hypothyroidism is low. The development of autoimmune markers did not correlate with gluten ingested. In fact, many of the subjects developed thyroid antibodies while adhering to a gluten-free diet.

While of interest, longer follow-up (as suggested by the authors) is needed to reassure us that these antibodies are of little significance.