Risk estimation of disorders associated with coeliac disease. A 16-year Danish nationwide follow-up study based on hospital discharge data. Implications for screening.

We studied the association between coeliac disease and other diseases in a cohort of 896 persons who were registered in the Danish National Registry of Patients during a 16-year period. The registry contains information on all discharge diagnoses from Danish somatic hospitals. The total number of observation years in the cohort was 7144 years. The background population was 5.1 million.The strongest association was found with diabetes mellitus, pancreatic diseases and dermatitis herpetiformis. A weaker association was found with small intestinal cancer, malignant haematological disorders, agammaglobulinaemia and rheumatoid arthritis. Conclusively, our population-based study supported the association between coeliac disease and several other chronic diseases, but a weaker association than indicated in other less comprehensive studies and case reports.