Changing referral trends of acute pancreatitis in children: A 12-year single-center analysis. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2009 Sep;49(3):316-22
Date
06/09/2009Pubmed ID
19503003Pubmed Central ID
PMC3034387DOI
10.1097/MPG.0b013e31818d7db3Scopus ID
2-s2.0-70349106872 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 129 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis is a painful inflammatory disorder known to occur in children. Recent reports, primarily on the basis of adult data, have suggested an increasing incidence. However, pediatric studies are limited.
OBJECTIVE: The study was performed to examine the frequency of acute pancreatitis in a pediatric population from 1994 to 2007 and to characterize etiologies by age subsets.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, cases of pancreatitis were identified by ICD-9 codes and subjected to inclusion criteria.
RESULTS: Two hundred and seventy-one cases of pancreatitis met inclusion criteria. Mean age of the subjects was 13.1 +/- 5.6 years. The recurrence rate was 15.3%. Biliary disease was the most common etiology (32.6%). Acute pancreatitis cases evaluated at a single tertiary care center increased 53% between 1995 to 2000 and 2001 to 2006 (P < 0.02). However, when cases were normalized by all annual pediatric emergency department visits for all medical reasons, the increase was reduced to 22% and lost statistical significance (P = 0.16). The rise was not associated with a change in etiologies or body mass index (BMI).
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report demonstrating that an increase in pediatric pancreatitis may in part be due to growing referrals to tertiary care centers. The data on etiologies, particularly with regard to differing ages, may be helpful in managing children who present with acute pancreatitis.
Author List
Park A, Latif SU, Shah AU, Tian J, Werlin S, Hsiao A, Pashankar D, Bhandari V, Nagar A, Husain SZAuthor
Steven L. Werlin MD Emeritus Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentBiliary Tract Diseases
Child
Female
Humans
Incidence
Male
Pancreatitis
Recurrence
Referral and Consultation
Retrospective Studies
Sex Distribution
