Acute pancreatitis. a prospective epidemiological study in the province of Alicante. a Hospital Group for Study of Digestive Diseases in Alicante
Mínguez, M.; García, A.; Boix, V.
Revista Espanola de Enfermedades Digestivas Organo Oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Patologia Digestiva 87(12): 869-873
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1130-0108 PMID: 8562193 Document Number: 444220
To gather epidemiological data on acute pancreatitis (AP) in Alicante area. A prospective study of patients admitted to all public hospitals with AP during 1991. Patients over 14 years, with elevation of serum amylase and a consistent clinical presentation, or in whom AP was confirmed at laparotomy or postmortem. We identified 473 episodes of AP in 450 patients (236 males and 214 females). The mean age was 59.4 years. The annual incidence was 451 per million habitants/year. The commonest aetiology was biliary (52%) followed by idiopathic forms (24.7%), alcoholic (20.2%) and miscellaneous (2.9%). The overall mortality rate was 5.1%. Male were more frequently affected below 50 years of age (2.4 men/1 woman); the ratio being balanced above this age. Biliary etiology was more frequent in women, (63.5%), while alcoholic forms were more frequent in man (96.8%). 5.1% of patients presented more than one episode of AP during the year analysed. AP involved the 0.58% of the all patients admitted to the hospitals and the 0.14% of the all patients attended in hospital emergencies.