High frequency of gastrointestinal complaints, but insignificant prevalence of gluten-sensitive enteropathies in Brazilian fibromyalgia patients

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES

Coeliac disease (CD) and non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) cause symptoms like those seen in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and functional gastrointestinal disorders. There is no consistent data on frequency of these symptoms and no study performed duodenal biopsies to investigate CD/NCGS in Brazilian FM patients. Therefore, we sought to verify the prevalence of CD/NCGS in FM patients and the association between gastrointestinal manifestations and FM symptoms.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Sixty-two individuals with FM (ACR2010) were recruited from FM outpatient clinics of a tertiary hospital. Clinical evaluation included the Widespread Pain Index (WPI), Severity Symptom Scale (SS), Polysymptomatic Distress Scale (PDS), and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Subjects were screened for the presence of coeliac antibodies and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (duodenal biopsies) was performed for diagnosis of CD/NCGS.

RESULTS

46 (74.2%) women reported at least one digestive symptom: constipation, abdominal distension, loss of weight/inappetence, and nausea/vomiting. Fourteen (31.8%) presented macroscopic duodenitis and 2(4.5%) had duodenal lymphocytic infiltrates, but none met CD criteria. In 1(1.6%) patient NCGS was confirmed. There was association between presence of any digestive symptom and WPI and SS (fatigue, waking up tired, cognition), but no difference on FIQ between patients with and without gastrointestinal symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Gastrointestinal complaints were frequent and associated with increased degree of polysymptomatic distress in FM patients, but presence of these symptoms was not related to overall impact of FM over different dimensions of the patient's life. Moreover, the prevalence of CD/NCGS was very low. This suggests that screening for CD in Brazilian FM patients might not be cost-effective, since the frequency of CD/NCGS was very low.

[Irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease and gluten]

For many years irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and celiac disease (CD) have been considered 2 completely separate entities, with CD being clearly related to a permanent gluten intolerance and IBS having no relation with gluten ingestion. However IBS and CD symptoms may be indistinguishable, especially when diarrhea, bloating or abdominal pain predominate. In the last decade several studies have shown that the separation between CD and IBS is not so clear. Thus, some patients who have been diagnosed of IBS suffer in fact from CD. In addition, it seems that there is a group of patients who, without having CD, suffer gluten intolerance that cause them digestive symptoms similar to those of IBS. Gluten sensitivity is defined as the spectrum of morphological, immunological and functional abnormalities that respond to a gluten-free diet. This concept includes histological, immunological and clinical manifestations in the absence of evident morphological abnormalities. Therefore, it is mandatory to establish in a scientific way in which patients a gluten-free diet will be beneficial as well as when this is not justified.