Decreased vitamin D levels in children and adolescents with Celiac disease: A nationwide cross-sectional study

Aims: Vitamin D deficiency results from malabsorption in Celiac disease (CD), and it may also be involved in the pathogenesis of CD. There is no clarity regarding vitamin D deficiency in CD. We investigated the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in children with CD compared with controls. Methods: The database of the Turkish Ministry of Health was used for the cross-sectional descriptive study. Children with CD whose serum tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were available in the registry were included. The CD group was further subdivided into tTG (IgG and/or IgA) antibody-negative and positive subgroups. Individuals with CD were classified as compatible and non-compatible with a gluten-free diet (GFD) (GFD-compatible and GFD-non-compatible groups), respectively. Children who had no known malabsorption syndrome formed the control group. Results: The median serum 25(OH)D level was 18.5 ng/mL in children with CD (n=6717) and 30.7 ng/mL in the control group (n=6717) (p