Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Celiac Disease: An Insight from The National Inpatient Sample

The number of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) related admissions in celiac disease (CD) patients significantly increased from 2005-2014, according to research presented at the ACC.20 World Congress of Cardiology. 

Researchers reviewed the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2005-2014 for adults with AMI as a primary diagnosis and CD as a secondary diagnosis. They identified 6,180,485 AMI hospitalizations, of which 3,169 had a CD diagnosis. Subsequently, the researchers used survey regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for hospital mortality (the primary endpoint) and other outcomes. 

According to the results, in 2014 the proportion of patients with CD in AMI hospitalizations grew from 0.015% in 2005 to 0.076%. The results showed that CD+AMI patients were significantly older (70.3 vs. 67.4 years), and more likely female (51.9% vs. 39.5%). After adjusting for age, gender, race, Charlson Comorbidity index and hospital level characteristics, the researchers observed that CD+AMI hospitalizations had a lower odds-ratio for hospital mortality (aOR=0.39; 95% CI= 0.23 to 0.67). Also, the results showed that length of stay in the CD+AMI patients was shorter (4.53 vs. 4.84 days, P<0.01) but the average hospitalization charges were higher ($64,058 vs $60,223), juxtaposed to non-CD AMI patients.  

“We found that the number of acute myocardial infarction related admissions in the CD patients has risen more than five-fold from 2005-2014,” the authors concluded. “However, the odd of in-hospital mortality in these patients is lower than the patients without CD for unclear reasons or mechanisms. The results of our study show that though the CD-related systemic inflammation is associated with an increasing number of AMI hospitalizations, these patients have comparatively favorable outcomes than controls; though it definitely adds an extra cost to the hospitalization.” 

Gupta M. Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Celiac Disease: An Insight from The National Inpatient Sample. Presented at the ACC.20 World Congress of Cardiology; March 28-30, Chicago, IL.