Inflammatory bowel disease on the risk of acute pancreatitis: A population-based cohort study

Abstract

Background and aims: To determine whether inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) influences the risk of acute pancreatitis.

Methods: We identified 11,909 patients diagnosed with IBD between 2000 and 2010 from Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database as the study cohort. A comparison cohort comprised 47,636 age-matched patients without IBD. Both cohorts were followed-up until the end of 2010 or until being censored. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to study the effects of IBD on the risks of acute pancreatitis.

Results: The overall incidence of acute pancreatitis was 3.56-fold higher in the study cohort than in the comparison cohort (31.8 vs 8.91 per 10,000 person-years, crude hazard ratio [HR] = 3.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.96-4.28). After adjustment for age, sex, and comorbidities, namely alcohol-related disease, biliary stone, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, obesity, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hypertriglyceridemia, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypercalcemia, the adjusted HR for acute pancreatitis was 2.93-fold higher (95% CI = 2.40-3.58) in the study cohort than in the comparison cohort.

Conclusions: IBD is a risk factor for acute pancreatitis.

Keywords: Crohn's disease; acute pancreatitis; inflammatory bowel disease; ulcerative colitis.