Neurological Evaluation of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Coeliac Disease Presenting to Gastroenterologists: A 7-Year Follow-Up Study

• Main Authors: Marios Hadjivassiliou, Iain D. Croall, Richard A. Grünewald, Nick Trott, David S. Sanders, Nigel Hoggard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Nutrients
• Subjects: coeliac disease; neurological dysfunction; ataxia; headaches; neuropathy; anti-gliadin antibodies
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/6/1846

We have previously shown that 67% of patients with newly diagnosed coeliac disease (CD) presenting to gastroenterologists have evidence of neurological dysfunction. This manifested with headache and loss of co-ordination. Furthermore 60% of these patients had abnormal brain imaging. In this follow-up study, we re-examined and re-scanned 30 patients from the original cohort of 100, seven years later. There was significant reduction in the prevalence of headaches (47% to 20%) but an increase in the prevalence of incoordination (27% to 47%). Although those patients with coordination problems at baseline reported improvement on the gluten free diet (GFD), there were 7 patients reporting incoordination not present at baseline. All 7 patients had positive serology for one or more gluten-sensitivity related antibodies at follow-up. In total, 50% of the whole follow-up cohort were positive for one or more gluten-related antibodies. A comparison between the baseline and follow-up brain imaging showed a greater rate of cerebellar grey matter atrophy in the antibody positive group compared to the antibody negative group. Patients with CD who do not adhere to a strict GFD and are serological positive are at risk of developing ataxia, and have a significantly higher rate of cerebellar atrophy when compared to patients with negative serology. This highlights the importance of regular review and close monitoring.