In the largest study characterizing celiac disease patients with COVID-19 to date exploring clinical outcomes of celiac disease patients with COVID-19, entitled Clinical characteristics, hospitalisation and mortality rates of COVID-19 among patients with coeliac disease in the USA: a multicentre network study, and published in BMJ Journals, researchers concluded that patients with celiac disease who are infected with COVID-19 are not at higher risk of hospitalization, mortality, thrombosis, or ICU care requirement compared to COVID-19 patients without celiac disease. According to Benjamin Lebwohl, MD, Director of Clinical Research, Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, and Celiac Disease Foundation Young Investigator Awardee, “These findings are reassuring in that people with celiac disease do not appear to be at increased risk of severe Covid-related outcomes compared to the general population. But given the havoc that Covid can wreak on communities, families, and individuals, it behooves all of us, celiac or not, to continue the preventive strategies that work including vaccination and testing.” The results of this study are consistent with an earlier population-based cohort study out of Sweden that investigated the risk of severe COVID-19 in celiac disease patients.
Studying outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with celiac disease continues to be important. The Celiac Disease Foundation encourages all celiac patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to ask their healthcare provider to go to covidceliac.org and report their case in the SECURE-Celiac Registry (Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion). Reporting a case should take your doctor no more than five minutes. With the help of the entire celiac community, we will be able to further define the impact of COVID-19 on patients with celiac disease and determine how factors such as age, comorbidities, and treatments impact COVID-19 outcomes.
To read the full study, click here.