Time period from onset of pain to hospital admission and patients' awareness in acute pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the period between onset of pain and hospital-admission (pain-to-admission time) in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP), to investigate the prognostic value and associated factors of this time, and to ascertain the knowledge about the pancreas in these patients. METHODS: An analysis of a prospective multicenter study was done, which included 188 patients with AP. RESULTS: Median pain-to-admission time was 27 hours (interquartile range, 6.0-72.0). Median pain-to-admission time was significantly shorter in intensive care unit (ICU) patients (10 hours) compared to non-ICU patients (36 hours) (P = 0.045). Short pain-to-admission time was associated with high pain level. Median pain level (0, no pain; 10, maximal pain) was 8.0 (interquartile range, 7.0-10.0). Older age correlated with lower pain level (r = -0.26; P = 0.002). Multiple logistic regression analysis including the admission values for serum lipase and C-reactive protein and the corresponding interactions to the pain-to-admission time showed substantial discriminative ability regarding ICU admission (concordance index, 0.706; P = 0.006). 86% (112/130) knew that they have a pancreas, 72% (81/112) of these patients knew that AP exists, and 56% (45/81) recognized that AP is potentially fatal. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge about AP in hospitalized AP patients is poor. Serum lipase and C-reactive protein in dependency of the pain-to-admission time might be a suitable predictor for severity of AP.

Incidence of acute pancreatitis does not increase during Oktoberfest, but is higher than previously described in Germany.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Increased alcohol consumption can lead to acute pancreatitis (AP). We investigated whether the incidence of alcohol-induced AP increased during the Munich Oktoberfest in 2008, at which 6.6 million liters of beer were sold within 16 days. METHODS: We performed a multicenter, prospective study of 188 patients with AP (36.7% alcohol-induced, 34.6% biliary), treated at 27 hospitals in the greater area of Munich, Germany (2,970,000 inhabitants) during the 2008 Oktoberfest. Data were compared with that from two 18-day control periods. RESULTS: During the Oktoberfest, the overall incidence of AP was 42.8/100,000 person-years, which is 117% higher than previously reported. The incidence of acute attacks of alcoholic pancreatitis (AAP) did not increase during the Oktoberfest, compared with control periods. AAP was independently associated with repeated episodes of AP (P = .001), high levels of chronic alcohol intake (P = .001), low body-mass index (P = .007), male gender (P = .033), and acute alcohol excess (P = .037). Biliary AP was associated with increased levels of alanine-aminotransferase and aspartate-aminotransferase (P = .003), old age (P = .014), and low levels of chronic alcohol intake (P = .032). Death (5/188 patients) was associated with baseline levels of blood urea nitrogen, receiver operating characteristic-area under the curve (ROC-AUC = 0.918), alkaline phosphatase (ROC-AUC = 0.861), and C-reactive protein (ROC-AUC = 0.855). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of AP does not increase during the Oktoberfest, compared with other time periods; the incidence of AP in Munich is higher than previously described in Germany. AAP was associated with long-term, heavy alcohol exposure rather than short-term, excessive alcohol drinking. Levels of blood urea nitrogen were associated with mortality.