Takeaway
- Patients are more than 3 times as likely to develop recurrent acute pancreatitis (RAP) if they have a local complication such as acute peripancreatic fluid collection, pancreatic pseudocyst, acute necrotic collection, or walled-off necrosis during their first episode.
- Men who are <60 years old also have greater risk.
Why this matter
- Special attention and close follow-up for such patients might reduce hospital readmissions and healthcare costs.
Study design
- Researchers studied the health records of patients with ≥1 episode of RAP (n=617; mean age, 60.6±16.8 years; 61.6% men; median follow-up, 3.2 years) to identify recurrence risk factors using Cox regression.
- Funding: Yeungnam University.
Key results
- During follow-up, 100 (16.2%) patients experienced RAP; 75 had 1 relapse, 12 had 2 relapses, and 13 had ≥3 relapses.
- Causes attributed to RAP included alcohol consumption (48%) and gallstones (31%), others were recorded as idiopathic (14%) or unspecified (7%).
- Cox regression showed factors significantly associated with RAP risk:
- Local complications: HR, 3.334 (95% CI, 2.211-5.026);
- Male sex: HR, 1.927 (95% CI, 1.127-3.295); and
- Age <60 years: HR, 1.602 (95% CI, 1.029-2.493).
Limitations
- The study was retrospective with a small sample size.
- Short follow-ups hampered subgroup analyses.
—Craig Hicks
References
References
