Celiac disease (CD) is a gluten sensitive enteropathy with intestinal and extra intestinal presentations in genetically predisposed cases. Musculoskeletal problems are one of the most common extra intestinal manifestations in adult Celiac disease. In present study we evaluated parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in men and premenopausal women with CD who had osteoporosis and osteopenia.

: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of adult CD patients who were referred to the Mashhad Celiac Disease Center between 2012 and 2019. We excluded the bone loss confounding factors including cases with endocrine disorders, corticosteroid consumption, smoking, and women over the age of 50. Factors such as intestinal pathology, bone mineral density (BMD), serum level of anti-tTG, serum vitamin D,PTH and hemoglobin levels were also assessed at the time of diagnosis

High levels of PTH were detected in 72/193 (27.2%) of CD patients. There was a significant correlation between PTH levels in patients with osteopenia, osteoporosis, and normal BMD (p= 0.0001).

This study showed a correlation between low bone mineral density and PTH levels in CD patients which probably introduced the autoimmune hyperparathyroidism as a cause of osteopenia and osteoporosis.