The Frequency of Epileptiform Discharges in Celiac Disease

BACKGROUND: We studied patients with celiac disease to define the frequency of epileptiform discharges on electroencephalography. METHODS: A total of 307 children with a diagnosis of celiac disease (study group) and 197 age- and sex-matched healthy children as controls (control group) were included in this study. The study group was further divided into newly diagnosed celiac disease patients (n = 216) and patients who were on a gluten-free diet (n = 91) for at least 6 months. Medical histories of all children including age, sex, symptoms, weight, height, physical examination findings, and laboratory data were recorded. All patients underwent an electroencephalograph in a pediatric neurology electroencephalograph laboratory with a 32-channel electroencephalograph for 30 minutes. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients were defined to have epileptiform discharges (spike/sharp-wave discharges); 24 (7.8%) of those patients were in the celiac disease group and 1 (0.5%) was in the control group (P = 0.001). Among those 24 patients, 21(9.7%) were in newly diagnosed celiac disease group and 3 (3.3%) were in the gluten-free diet group (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Patients diagnosed with celiac disease are prone to epileptiform activities on electroencephalography and should be evaluated carefully. Moreover, strict adherence to a gluten-free diet early should be advised in those patients with epileptiform activities because it may effectively decrease the occurrence of epileptiform activities.