[A report on the epidemiology and the clinical features of the patients with chronic pancreatitis in Hokkaido District].

We carried out through questionnaires the second survey on the epidemiology and the clinical features of chronic pancreatitis in Hokkaido district. Chronic pancreatitis was diagnosed in 258 patients in 19 hospitals during the period April 1977 to December 1984. The ratio of male cases to females was 2.7:1.0 and the average age was 53.9. Alcoholic abuse, observed in 55% of the patients, was a main causative factor. A half of the patients was diagnosed on the basis of pancreatogram and/or image of the pancreas (ultrasonogram and computed tomogram). The incidence of chronic pancreatitis in the second survey was about fourfold over that diagnosed during the period January 1970 to March 1977 in the first survey. Such an increasing number of the patients with chronic pancreatitis in Hokkaido district was considered to be resulted from the difference between two surveys in epidemiological aspects and diagnostic criteria. The proportion of female patients and alcoholic patients was calculated to be increasing. The frequency of the patients diagnosed in a relatively early stage was supposed to be also increasing, because in the second survey a new item (pancreatogram, ultrasonogram and computed tomogram) was added to the diagnostic criteria (histological evidence, pancreatic calcification and definitive disturbance of exocrine pancreatic function) in the first survey. Based on whether alcoholic abuse was causative factor or not, the patients were divided into two groups and the clinical manifestations of both groups were compared.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)