Associated Conditions – General

There are many associations which have been established or suggested between coeliac disease and other disorders. There have now been many studies linking coeliac disease with other autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease.

There are two commonly suggested theories as to what the link between coeliac disease and other autoimmune diseases is. The first is that untreated coeliac disease triggers autoimmune disease in people with the "at risk" genes. The second is that the genes for coeliac disease and other autoimmune diseases are linked in some way and therefore likely to be inherited together. More recently it has been suggested that in untreated coeliac disease there is a loss of the gut's protective barrier function, it becomes "leaky", allowing environmental triggers into the body and therefore causing disease.

Some of the suggested associated diseases and conditions are listed below:

A-1 atrophic gastritis
Addison disease
Alopecia
Colitis (especially microscopic/lymphocytic colitis)
Congenital heart defects
Dermatitis herpetiformis
Down's syndrome
Hypo-splenia
IgA nephropathy
Infertility and recurrent miscarriage
Liver enzyme disturbance
Neurological associations include neuropathies, ataxia, memory impairment, migraines, epilepsy, or muscular stiffness
Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
Psoriasis
Sarcoidosis
Serum IgA deficiency
Sjogren syndrome
Thyroid disease (autoimmune hypo- or hyper-thyroidism)
Turner syndrome
Type 1 diabetes
Vasculitis
Williams syndrome

Having any of the above disorders may raise the suspicion of coeliac disease.

There is also a small, but real, increased risk of certain forms of cancer such as lymphoma of the small bowel in those with untreated coeliac disease.