Physical activity at work and the risk of chronic pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the hypothesis that low social status in chronic pancreatitis is accounted for by high physical activity at work.

DESIGN

A case-control study comparing 50 patients with an established diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis with 100 age- and sex-matched community controls.

RESULTS

There was a significant association between a high level of physical activity and chronic pancreatitis risk, the relative risk being 3.9 (1.3-11.7). After controlling for age, sex, smoking and alcohol intake, a high amount of calorie expenditure during work was still significantly associated with chronic pancreatitis risk, the relative risk being 4.5 (1.2-17.7). When social class was controlled for physical activity the increased risk for low social class status disappeared.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that the social class gradient may be explained by the amount of manual labour.