Prevalence of Celiac in Fertile Women Due to Unexplained Infertility

Abstract

Introduction: Celiac disease is an immune response to a gluten-based diet that affects the small intestines of people with a genetic predisposition to the disease. Celiac has intra intestinal and extraintestinal manifestations. In recent years, celiac and infertility have been considered. The present study examines the effect of celiac disease and its treatment on the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause. In this study, we compared the prevalence of the celiac disease infertile women with infertile women in Zahedan.
Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 150 patients with unexplained infertility from February 2016 to2017 referred to Infertility Clinic of Ali ibn Abitaleb Hospital in Zahedan (Iran), were included in the study. Total IgA and IgA TTG were evaluated. If TTG is positive, for confirmation of diagnosis, a biopsy is performed from the distal part of the duodenum. In the control group, 150 fertile women with two or more children with the same characteristics were studied.
Results: Three patients with unexplained infertility (2%) were positive for TTG. Two of them (1/3%) were positive to celiac disease in a small intestinal biopsy. None of the women in the control group had TTG positive (p=0.49).
Discussion and Conclusion: It seems that some infertile patients with unexplained infertility suffer from celiac disease, but with a (p=0.49), it seems that celiac screening as a cause of infertility with unexplained cause needs more studies with larger sample size in Iran.