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Thought you all might find this recent paper interesting:

TITLE:               Prevalence and early diagnosis of coeliac disease in
                     autoimmune thyroid disorders [In Process Citation]

AUTHORS:             Cuoco L; Certo M; Jorizzo RA; De Vitis I; Tursi A; Papa A;
                     De Marinis L; Fedeli P; Fedeli G; Gasbarrini G

AUTHOR AFFILIATION:  Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University S.C.,
                     Rome, Italy.

SOURCE:              Ital J Gastroenterol Hepatol 1999 May;31(4):283-7 [MEDLINE
                     record in process]

CITATION IDS:        Pmid: 10425571 Ui: 99354303

ABSTRACT:            BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Coeliac disease is associated with
                     several autoimmune disorders such as insulin-dependent
                     diabetes, Sjogren's syndrome, Addison's disease and thyroid
                     diseases. The aim of our study was to evaluate the
                     prevalence of coeliac disease in patients affected by
                     autoimmune thyroid diseases by means of anti-gliadin and
                     anti-endomysial antibodies.

                     PATIENTS: We studied 92 patients affected by autoimmune
                     thyroid diseases (47 chronic autoimmune thyroiditis, 22
                     Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 23 Graves' disease). Ninety
                     patients with non autoimmune thyroid disorders (51
                     multifollicular goitre, 28 solitary nodule and 11 papillary
                     carcinoma) and 236 blood donors also took part in the study
                     as control groups. METHODS: Total serum IgA were measured
                     in all subjects to exclude selective IgA deficiency; then
                     we measured anti-gliadin antibodies and anti-endomysial
                     antibodies. In patients with anti-gliadin/anti-endomysial
                     antibody positivity and/or with haematinic and laboratory
                     signs of malabsorption we carried out gastrointestinal
                     endoscopy with duodenal histological examination.

                     RESULTS: Among the 92 patients with autoimmune thyroid
                     disease, 4 (4.3%) showed anti-gliadin and anti-endomysial
                     positivity and had coeliac disease; among the 90 patients
                     with non autoimmune thyroid diseases, 1 (1.1%) had coeliac
                     disease; finally, among the blood donors, 1 subject (0.4%)
                     was anti-gliadin-anti-endomysium antibody positive and had
                     coeliac disease. Those subjects presenting with only anti-
                     gliadin antibody positivity did not have coeliac disease.

                     CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the prevalence of
                     coeliac disease in patients with autoimmune thyroid
                     diseases is significantly increased when compared with the
                     general population (p = 0.009) but not with patients
                     affected by non autoimmune thyroid disorders (p = 0.18).
                     We suggest a serological screening for coeliac disease in
                     all patients with autoimmune thyroid disease measuring
                     anti-endomysial antibodies, considering that early
                     detection and treatment of coeliac disease are effective
                     in preventing its complications.

Mary Thorpe/Mutschler lab
Dept. of Plant Breeding
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14850