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Smoking increased risk for acute pancreatitis
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Acute pancreatitis was more common among smokers, particularly those who also consumed alcohol, according to data presented at Digestive Disease Week.
In a retrospective study, researchers evaluated data from 484,624 patients collected from the VA database between 1999 and 2007. The cohort included 276,005 participants who neither smoked nor drank alcohol (group A), 86,934 who smoked but did not drink (group B), 42,801 who drank but did not smoke (group C) and 78,884 who drank alcohol and smoked (group D). All participants were aged 15 years and older, with no history of gallstones or chronic pancreatitis.
“We found that smoking is an independent risk factor for acute pancreatitis,” researcher Satish Munigala, MD, MPH,department of internal medicine in the gastroenterology/hepatology division at St. Louis University, told Healio.com. “Most of the literature talks about chronic and recurrent acute pancreatitis, but our study showed that even with a single episode of acute pancreatitis, smoking is an independent risk factor.”
Between 2001 and 2007, acute pancreatitis occurred in 6,799 cases, including 1,566 in group A, 916 from group B, 1,098 from group C and 3,219 from group D (incidence from 1999 to 2000 was excluded). The mean age upon incidence of pancreatitis was 62 years in group A, 56 in group B, 54 in group C and 52 in group D.
Investigators calculated an RR of 5.18 (95% CI, 4.93-5.44) for acute pancreatitis among people who drank and 2.98 (95% CI, 2.84-3.13) among smokers. The risk for recurrent acute pancreatitis increased across groups A to D. Multivariate analysis adjusting for factors, including age, race and sex, indicated significant associations between acute pancreatitis and alcohol consumption (RR=3.65) and smoking (RR=1.58).
Disclosure: Researcher Darwin Conwell, MD, has served on advisory committees/review panels for Abbott. Researcher Andres Gelrud, MD, MMSc, has performed consulting services for Abbott, Boston Scientific and US Endoscopy, and speaking and teaching services for Abbott.
For more information:
Munigala S. Sa1359: Smoking May Represent an Independent Risk Factor for the Development of Acute Pancreatitis. Presented at: Digestive Disease Week 2013; May 18-21, Orlando, Fla.