Eosinophil counts in children with newly diagnosed celiac disease: Is there any association between celiac disease and eosinophil counts?

Aim: In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether there is a relationship between celiac disease (CD) and eosinophils. Material and Methods: Patients diagnosed with CD under the age of 18 were included in the study. Children who underwent gastroduodenoscopy for any reason and had no abnormalities detected in their biopsies were included in the control group. Results: Of the 72 patients with CD, 41 were girls, and their mean age was 8.50 +/- 4.24 years. Patients with CD had increased eosinophil counts in biopsies taken from the duodenal bulb and the second part of the duodenum. There was no statistically significant difference between the patients and control groups (p>0.05). Using the Marsh criteria, three groups of CD patients were created. There were 36 patients (50.00%) in Marsh 3a, 24 (33.33%) in Marsh 3b, and 12 (16.66%) in Marsh 3c. When the peripheral eosinophil counts and eosinophil counts in biopsies of all three groups were compared, no statistically significant difference was discovered (p>0.05). Discussion: We found a higher number of eosinophils in the peripheral blood, the second part of the duodenum biopsy, and the duodenal bulb biopsy of patients with CD in the current study. But we did not detect a statistically significant difference between the patient and control groups. This may be due to the cross-sectional nature of the study and the limited sample size. Our hypothesis that eosinophils may be involved in the pathophysiology of CD needs to be confirmed by larger case series studies.