Nutritional deficiencies in adult patients with celiac disease

Introduction: Celiac disease (CD) has longtime been considered the prototype of malabsorption, leading to significant nutritional deficiencies. Nutritional assessment is mandatory in patients with CD, to establish the need for nutritional correction and follow-up of deficiencies on gluten-free diet. Our aim was to evaluate nutritional status in a cohort of newly-diagnosed adult CD patients. Methods: We evaluated 31 newly-diagnosed adult CD patients admitted to " Dr. Carol Davila" Central Military Emergency University Hospital Bucharest during 2012-2016. Demographic, clinical and paraclinical data were recorded. CD diagnosis was made according to current guidelines. Results: Among the 31 CD patients, 22 (70.97%) were female, with a mean age of 40.13 +/- 12.76 years. Nutritional imbalance was not so frequent in our cohort. Only 9/31 patients reported involuntary weight loss, yielding a value of 29.03% of patients at nutritional risk. Mean BMI was 21.84 +/- 3.07, with only 2/31 (7.14%) being underweight. Atypical CD was present in more than half of the patients -17/31 (54.84%), while 2 were silent forms, screen-detected (with family history of CD). Anemia was found in almost half of the patients (48.39%), with low MCV in 29.03%. Hypocalcemia, hypomagnesaemia and hypoalbuminemia were seen in 12.9%, 12.9% and 19.35% respectively. DXA scores were available in 15 patients, of which 2 were with osteoporosis and 4 with osteopenia. Conclusions: Although nutritional status was not altered regarding body mass index, micronutrient deficiency was seen in a significant proportion of adult CD patients.