A team from the Hanover Medical School in Germany under Dr Mathias Hornef studied groups of children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and celiac disease as well as other children with other gastrointestinal problems and a "control" group of children who were visiting local doctors and for unrelated conditions.
They found that 28% of the coeliac children were born by cesarean section compared to only 19% of the other groups. They were also diagnosed at a younger age.
The researchers are not sure why cesarean delivery might be associated with celiac disease but not Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, because the three disorders develop in some similar ways.
Abstract: www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2009-2260 Pediatrics, online May 17, 2010.
Courtesy of Reuters
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