DOES COVID-19 CAUSE PANCREATITIS?

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Viral infections can cause acute pancreatitis. Idiopathic pancreatitis has an important proportion in the etiology of acute pancreatitis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rate of development of acute pancreatitis (AP) in COVID-19 patients and to determine the rate of idiopathic pancreatitis in the etiology of this pancreatitis. METHODS: A total of 6.467 patients hospitalized with the COVID-19 diagnosis were included in the study. Patients diagnosed with AP based on the Atlanta criteria were identified. Etiological factors were determined in patients who developed acute pancreatitis and compared with the etiological factors in 315 patients with non-COVID-19, hospitalized with the diagnosis of AP before the COVID-19 pandemic. AP was detected in 0.1% of patients with COVID-19. While gallstone was the etiologic factor in 2 (28.6%) of seven patients who developed acute pancreatitis during COVID-19, hyperlipidemia was the factor for 1 (14.3%) patient. Moreover, the etiologic factor could not be determined in 4 (57.1%) patients, and they were regarded as idiopathic pancreatitis patients. Biliary pancreatitis was the most common etiologic factor in 315 (78.4%) patients admitted to the hospital for AP before the COVID-19 pandemic. Idiopathic pancreatitis was ranked second with 16.8%. CONCLUSION: It was observed that there was a significant difference in the incidence of idiopathic pancreatitis between patients with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 (P=0.015). Results suggest that the SARS-Cov-2 virus may be among the factors leading to AP.