I worry a lot about whether celiac disease will shorten my life. Celiac is an autoimmune disease with the only treatment being a gluten free diet that is really, really hard to implement.

Another study came out saying that overall mortality rates are not increased in those with celiac disease. Researchers looked a patients diagnosed between January 1960 and December 2000 at a particular hospital in Finland. Researchers even divided celiac patients into different “types” or phenotypes of celiac disease. Scientists used these divisions to compare and contrast lifespans to see if the “type” of celiac made a difference in lifespan.

Researchers designated the date of diagnosis of celiac disease either on the date of biopsy or the date dermatitis herpitformis was confirmed. Then they divided the celiac patients into 5 different types based on their presenting symptoms:
1) gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea, abdominal pain, reflux, obstipation,
2) malabsorption, including weight loss, anemia or deficiencies of iron, cobalamin, folic acid or calcium either alone or in combination,
3) dermatitis herpetiformis including patients with itchy and blistering rash at typical locations,
4) other extraintestinal symptoms including osteoporosis, infertility, neurological manifestations, arthralgia and childhood growth retardation,
5) screen detected patients including individuals with few or no symptoms who were screened due to having either an autoimmune disease e.g. type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroiditis, arthritis or IgA nephropathy or celiac disease in the family.

Researchers found that celiac disease did not increase overall mortality nor did the specific type of celiac disease affect mortality.

This study is continuing to affirm that, in general, celiac disease alone does not shorten your lifespan. But I do like the division of the types of celiac disease. I thought those divisions were interesting. Here is a link to the study -> https://loom.ly/cYHAZAs

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