Perinatal risk factors for development of celiac disease in children, based on the prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: There have been inconsistent reports of prenatal and perinatal factors that affect risk for development of celiac disease. We assessed the association of fetal growth, birth weight, and mode of delivery with development of celiac disease within the Norwegian Mother and Child (MoBa) Cohort Study.

METHODS

The MoBa cohort contains pregnancy information on 95,200 women and data on their 114,500 children, which were collected in Norway from 1999 through 2008; it is linked to the Medical Birth Registry. Women and children with celiac disease were identified from the National Patient Registry and from women's responses to MoBa questionnaires. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for celiac disease by using a multivariable logistic regression model, adjusting for maternal celiac disease, sex of children, and children's age (model 1); in a second model, we adjusted for age of gluten introduction and duration of breastfeeding (model 2).

RESULTS

We identified 650 children with celiac disease and 107,828 controls in the MoBa database. We found no association between birth weight or height with celiac disease (born small for gestational age was not associated). Celiac disease was not associated with mode of delivery (cesarean section, model 1: OR, 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65-1.09, and model 2: OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.63-1.09). Maternal celiac disease, adjusted for age and sex of the children (OR, 12.45; 95% CI, 8.29-18.71) and type 1 diabetes (model 1: OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.19-5.53, and model 2: OR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.14-5.98) were associated with development of celiac disease in children, whereas maternal type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes were not.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of analysis of the Norwegian MoBa cohort, development of celiac disease in children is significantly associated with sex of the child, maternal celiac disease, and type 1 diabetes but not with intrauterine growth.