More than 9-times increased risk for pancreatic cancer among patients with acute pancreatitis in Chinese population.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to assess the risk of pancreatic cancer after acute pancreatitis using a nationwide population-based data set in Taiwan.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 747 patients hospitalized between 2000 and 2003 with a principal diagnosis of acute pancreatitis (the study cohort) and 5976 comparison patients. Stratified Cox proportional hazard regression adjusted for monthly income, urbanization, and geographic location of residence was used to calculate the 5-year hazard ratio (HR) of pancreatic cancer for the study versus comparison cohort.

RESULTS

Of the total sample, 21 patients (0.31%) developed pancreatic cancer in the 5 years after index hospitalization: 11 (1.47%) of the study group patients and 10 (0.17%) of the comparison group patients. After adjusting for confounders, acute pancreatitis patients were 9 times as likely as the comparison group to develop pancreatic cancer in the following 5 years (HR = 9.10; 95% confidence interval, 3.81-21.76). Among patients with acute pancreatitis, the adjusted HR of pancreatic cancer was 40.03 and 3.72 times greater, respectively, for those with chronic pancreatitis and for those without than comparison patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with acute pancreatitis have more than 9 times the risk of comparison patients to develop pancreatic cancer in the subsequent 5 years among the Hun Chinese ethnic population in Taiwan.