The relationship between adiposity and stature in prepubertal children with celiac disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

The pathogenesis of short stature in celiac disease (CD) is unknown. Obese children are generally taller than their non-obese peers; however, the role of adiposity on stature in CD is unclear. Our aim was to determine the association between adiposity and stature in CD.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

We compared the anthropometric characteristics of prepubertal children of ages 3-12 years, with biopsy-proven CD (n=40) and who were not on gluten-free diet, to same aged, prepubertal non-CD children (n=50). Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using the formula weight/height². Sex-adjusted midparental target height (MPTH) standard deviation score (SDS) was calculated using National Children Health Statistics data for 18-year-old adults. Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation.

RESULTS

CD subjects had significantly lower BMI SDS than controls (0.61 ± 1.22 vs. 1.28 ± 1.60, p=0.027) but were not significantly shorter than the controls (-0.05 ± 1.21 vs. 0.21 ± 1.71, p=0.41). When the patients were subdivided into the normal-weight and overweight/obese groups, the normal-weight CD patients were of similar height as the normal-weight controls (p=0.76) but were significantly shorter than both the overweight/obese controls (p<0.001) and overweight/obese CD children (p<0.001). Interestingly, the overweight/obese CD children were significantly taller than the normal-weight controls (p=0.003). The MPTH SDS did not differ between the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Overweight/obese prepubertal children with CD were taller than both their normal-weight CD peers and the normal-weight controls, but were of similar height as the overweight/obese control subjects.