Celiac Disease Increases Death Rates

Celiac disease and related conditions increase a person’s risk of death, a study finds. People with celiac disease have problems when they eat foods with gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. The new study used 40 years of data from a Swedish test registry. About 48,000 people had celiac disease or one of two related conditions. Most of them had celiac disease. Another large group had a related type of inflammation. A smaller group had “latent” celiac disease. They had blood antibodies for celiac disease. But they did not have the usual changes inside the intestines. The study compared these groups with the general Swedish population. Compared with the general population, people with just inflammation had a 72% higher risk of death. People with celiac disease had a 39% higher risk. People with “latent disease” had a 35% higher risk.