Dear Editor,
We read the interpretation for our article titled “Celiac disease in children and adolescents diagnosed with Hashimoto thyroiditis”. The esteemed author stated that HLA-DQ2 tissue type was found in 95% of patients and HLA-DQ8 was found in the remaining patients as a result of genetic analysis performed in celiac patients, and the risk of celiac disease was higher in patients with autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes mellitus and autoimmune thyroiditis compared with the normal population. In addition, human leucocyte antigen (HLA) screening was primarily recommended in asymptomatic children with autoimmune thyroiditis and a risk for celiac disease in the final ‘European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (ESPGHAN)’ Celiac Disease Guideline as stated by the esteemed author (1). However, HLA tissue type screening cannot be performed in practice in our country, because genetic studies have high cost and are not easily accessible. Therefore, we used celiac serology to screen for celiac disease in patients who were diagnosed as having autoimmune thyroiditis.
References
- 1.Husby S, Koletzko S, Korponay-Szabo IR, et al. European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition guidelines for the diagnosis of coeliac disease. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2012;54:136–60. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0b013e31821a23d0. https://doi.org/10.1097/MPG.0b013e31821a23d0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]