medwireNews: People with type 1 diabetes should be screened for other autoimmune diseases, a Finnish research team suggests, after finding these individuals particularly vulnerable to additional disorders.
The study of more than 4000 Finnish individuals with type 1 diabetes revealed that 22.8% had at least one additional autoimmune disease, with the most prevalent being hypothyroidism, celiac disease, and hyperthyroidism.
And women were more than twice as likely as men to have at least one additional autoimmune disease, at a corresponding 31.6% versus 14.9%, the researchers note in Diabetes Care.
The risk for celiac disease was associated with early-onset diabetes, with the risk increasing by 1.5% with each decreasing year at onset. Children diagnosed before the age of 10 years were at greatest risk, being 1.38 times more likely to have celiac disease than other diabetic individuals.
“Screening for celiac disease is important during childhood, since age ≤10 years at onset of [type 1 diabetes] but not ageing, per se, increases the risk of celiac disease,” comment Per-Henrik Groop (University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital) and co-workers.
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