Celiac Disease Autoimmunity and Hip Fracture Risk: Findings from a Prospective Cohort Study

The impact of celiac disease autoimmunity on bone health is unclear. We investigated the associations of seropositivity for tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGA) and endomysial antibodies (EMA) with incident hip fractures using data from a prospective cohort study, Mini-Finland Health Survey. Baseline serum samples, taken in 1978-80, were tested for tTGA and EMA. Incident hip fractures up to the year 2011 were ascertained from a national hospitalization register. Associations between seropositivity and hip fractures were modeled using Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, vitamin D, gamma-glutamyl transferase, smoking, and self-rated health. Our analyses were based on 6919 men and women who had no record of celiac disease or hip fracture before the study baseline. A total of 382 individuals had a hip fracture during a median follow-up of 30 years. Compared with the tTGA-negative individuals (n = 6350), tTGA-positive participants (n = 569; with hip fracture, n = 51) had a higher risk of hip fractures (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17, 2.14). The findings were similar for another tTGA test (n 200; with hip fracture, n = 26; HR = 2.23, 95% CI 1.49, 3.34). We found no evidence for an association between EMA positivity and hip fracture risk (HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.34, 2.47; n = 74; with hip fracture, n = 4). In our prospective population-based study of Finnish adults, seropositivity for tTGA was associated with an increased hip fracture risk.