Anemia in Celiac Disease: Prevalence, Associated Clinical and Laboratory Features, and Persistence after Gluten-Free Diet

Anemia is considered to be the most frequent extra-intestinal manifestation of Celiac Disease (CD). We assessed frequency, severity, morphologic features, and pathogenic factors of anemia in patients of the Sicilian Regional Network of Celiac Disease and attempted to identify putative pre-diet factors influencing anemia persistence. We retrospectively analyzed CD patients admitted to three centers between 2016–2020. 159 patients entered the study (129 females). More than half (54.7%) had mild-moderate, hypochromic and microcytic anemia, associated with below normal total serum iron and ferritin, indicative of iron deficiency anemia (IDA). One year after diagnosis, 134 patients were fo…