Female Patients with Dermatitis Herpetiformis Show a Reduced Diagnostic Delay and Have Higher Sensitivity Rates at Autoantibody Testing for Celiac Disease

Table 1

Direct immunofluorescence results and circulating autoantibodies found in patients with dermatitis herpetiformis at the time of the diagnosis.

		Sex				Total		-value^∗
		M		F
		N	%	N	%	N	%
DIF	−	4	6.1%	4	6.5%	8	5.3%	1
	+	77	95.1%	66	94.3%	143	94.7%
Anti-tTG IgA	−	6	11.3%	2	3.6%	9	8.2%	0.15
	+	47	88.7%	54	96.4%	101	91.8%
EMA IgA	−	9	18.4%	3	7.0%	13	14.0%	0.11
	+	40	81.6%	40	93.0%	80	86.0%
Anti-DGP IgG	−	8	24.2%	0	0.0%	8	15.1%	0.02
	+	25	75.8%	20	100.0%	45	84.9%
Anti-DGP IgA	−	17	51.5%	8	40.0%	25	47.2%	0.21
	+	16	48.5%	12	60.0%	28	52.8%

DIF: direct immunofluorescence; tTG: tissue transglutaminase; EMA: endomysium antibodies; DGP: deamydated gliadin peptides.^∗Pearson’s Χ² test or Fisher’s exact test where required.