Anxiety and depression in adult patients with celiac disease on a gluten-free diet

Table 1 Demographic data of the celiac disease sample with gender comparison

Variable	Total sample	Females	Males	Test-value P-value
Sex (n, %)	441 (100)	346 (78.5)	95 (21.5)
Age, mean (SD)	46.3 (15.1)	45.7 (15.0)	48.5 (15.0)	Not significant
Living in partnership (n, %)	334 (76.1)	253 (73.8)	80 (84.2)	Not significant
Social class index (n, %)				Not significant
Lower class	26 (6.3)	18 (5.6)	7 (7.5)
Middle class	271 (65.3)	220 (68.8)	50 (53.8)
Upper class	118 (28.4)	82 (25.6)	36 (38.7)
Number of CD-associated diseases (n, %)				Not significant
None	240 (55.2)	175 (51.3)	65 (69.9)
One	118 (27.1)	100 (29.3)	17 (18.3)
Two	48 (11.0)	40 (11.7)	8 (8.6)
> Two	29 (6.7)	26 (7.7)	3 (3.2)
Latency to diagnosis, yr, mean (SD)	5.6 (10.0)	5.9 (9.8)	4.9 (10.7)	Not significant
Years since start of GFD, mean (SD)	8.5 (7.7)	8.5 (7.7)	8.7 (7.7)	Not significant
Compliance with GFD				Not significant
Rarely		20 (5.8)	2 (2.1)
Sometimes		9 (2.9)	0
Most of the time		86 (25.0)	30 (32.3)
All of the time		229 (66.6)	61 (65.6)
Anxiety, mean (SD)	6.7 (4.09)	7.1 (4.1)	5.3 (3.5)	t = -3.7, P < 0.001
Depression, mean (SD)	4.1 (3.6)	4.3 (3.8)	3.2 (3.9)	t = -2.5, P = 0.01
Probable anxiety disorder (n, %)	68 (15.4)	63 (18.2)	5 (5.2)	χ2 = 9.6, P = 0.001
Probable depressive disorder (n, %)	25 (5.7)	24 (6.9)	1 (1.0)	Not significant

Some discrepancies between total number of patients and absolute numbers of some variables are due to missing data. CD: Celiac disease; GFD: Gluten-free diet.

Table 2 Comparisons of patients with celiac disease with patients with inflammatory bowel disease in remission or having slight disease activity and with subjects of the general population

Variable	Celiac disease	Inflammatory bowel disease	General population	Overall comparison	Comparisonsubgroups
	n = 441 (1)	n = 235 (2)	n = 441 (3)
Sex (female) (n, %)	346 (78.5)	183 (77.9)	346 (78.5)	Not significant
Age (mean, SD)	46.3 (15.1)	44.9 (12.4)	49.9 (16.8)	Not significant
Social class index (n, %)			No comparable data available	Not possible	χ2 = 14.5
Lower	26 (6.3)	28 (11.9)			P < 0.01
Middle	271 (65.3)	167 (71.1)
Upper	118 (28.4)	40 (17.0)
Living in partnership or with family (n, %)	334 (76.1)	187 (80.3)	No comparable data available	Not significant
Anxiety				F = 45.9	1, 2 > 3
Total, mean (SD)	6.7 (4.0)	6.9 (3.7)	4.6 (3.3)	P < 0.001
Depression				Not significant
Total, mean (SD)	4.1 (3.6)	4.6 (3.4)	4.2 (3.8)
Probable anxiety disorder				χ2 = 23.2	1, 2 > 3
Total (n, %)	68 (15.4)	33 (14.0)	25 (5.7)	P < 0.001
Probable depressive disorder				Not significant
Total (n, %)	25 (5.7)	12 (5.1)	38 (8.6)