Increased incidence of urinary tract infections in patients with coeliac disease (letter)

Patients with coeliac disease seem to have an unusually high risk of urinary tract infections. This could be due to an altered immunity [3]. As coeliac disease is rather common in Italy (prevalence 163 in 100,000), screening programmes of the general population have been proposed, which are, however, rather expensive and time-consuming. Since the first episode of urinary tract infections was reported to precede the diagnosis of coeliac disease in most cases, as a first attempt screening programs could be applied to children suffering from urinary tract infections rather than to the general population.