Celiac disease and fertility: is there a link?

According to recent research, women living with celiac disease shouldn’t worry about the impact this problem could have on fertility.

Celiac disease affects about 1 percent of the population in North America and Western Europe, and women account for about 60-70 percent of all diagnoses. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease of the small intestine that causes intestinal malabsorption thus preventing the body from absorbing important nutrients. The primary treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet.

All the information on this autoimmune disease can be found on the website of the Italian Celiac Association.

Dr. Umberto Volta President of the Italian Celiac Association states that

on the basis of clinical experience, I can say with certainty that celiac disease that is well controlled by a gluten-free diet does not present problems of infertility or pregnancy complications […]. There are many works in the literature which demonstrate that the recognition of celiac disease and subsequent adherence to a strict gluten-free diet make the fertile life of celiac women identical to that of non-celiac women.

What emerged from the study

The study, published in the authoritative scientific journal Gastroenterology (official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association), concluded that women with celiac disease do not have more fertility problems than those who do not suffer from this disease  (with the exception of those diagnosed between 25 and 29 years old).

The research looked at more than 2.4 million women of childbearing age in the UK between 1990 and 2013. This is the largest study conducted until 2014.

Of the total examined, 6506 women were celiac. And these had a similar infertility rate to non-celiac women (4.4% vs 4.1%).

Based on the study data, the authors concluded that overall   infertility rates were similar whether the women had  celiac disease or not.  However, in women diagnosed with celiac disease between the ages of 25 and 29, the infertility rate was 41% higher than that of non-celiac women in a similar age group. So while celiac disease may be the cause of fertility problems in some women, the study results show that for the majority of women, being celiac is unlikely to affect their fertility.

What emerges is that celiac disease can cause infertility in women who are unaware of the pathology and who continue to follow diets with foods containing gluten, causing an  increase in the state of chronic inflammation with a consequent picture of intestinal malabsorption and deficiencies of essential elements of the ‘diet.

Once the woman receives the right diagnosis and starts a gluten-free diet then the chances of pregnancy align with women who do not suffer from this intolerance.