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Low testosterone in non-responsive coeliac disease: A case series, case-control study with comparisons to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Kurada S, Veeraraghavan G, Kaswala D, Hansen J, Cohen D, Kelly C, Leffler D

Digestive and liver disease : official journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver, 2016

26 participants

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adults with coeliac disease (CD) often report persistent fatigue, even when CD appears well controlled for unknown reasons.

AIMS: To evaluate common indications for testosterone panel (TP) testing and prevalence of low testosterone (T) in CD.

METHODS: In our case series, we determined common indications for checking TP in CD. Next, we conducted a case-control study to compare TP in CD vs. healthy controls (HC). We compared mean total T (TT), free T (FT) based on serologic, histologic disease activity. Finally, we assessed TT in tissue transglutaminase (tTG)+ vs. tTG- subjects and CD vs. HC obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

RESULTS: 53 coeliac males had TP tested. Common indications included osteoporosis and fatigue. Low FT was observed in 7/13 men with osteoporosis and 5/6 with fatigue. In our case-control study (n=26 each), there was no difference in mean TT or FT between CD vs. HC, tTG+ vs tTG- or Marsh 0 vs. Marsh 3 groups. NHANES data showed no difference in mean TT between tTG+ vs tTG- (n=16 each) or CD vs. HC subjects (n=5 each).

CONCLUSIONS: Low T occurs in CD patients at a similar rate as the general population. Common presentations of low T may mimic non-responsive CD symptoms.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case series, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health. Reported size: 26 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

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