• Ana Dugic, Linnea Widman, J-Matthias Löhr, and Hannes Hagström.
• Department of Medicine Huddinge, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
• J. Intern. Med. 2024 Dec 10.

Background And AimsPatients with alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) might be at increased risk of acute pancreatitis (AP), but large-scale data are lacking.MethodsPopulation-based cohort study using data from the Swedish National Patient Register on 37,062 patients with ALD from 1969 to 2020. Patients were matched to ≤10 general population comparators (n = 352,931). We used logistic regression to estimate the risk of acute or chronic pancreatitis prior to ALD diagnosis and Cox regression to estimate rates for hospitalization for AP after ALD diagnosis.ResultsMedian age at ALD diagnosis was 59 years; 72% were men, and 67% had cirrhosis at baseline. Overall, 7% had experienced pancreatitis before ALD diagnosis, resulting in 9-fold higher odds of pancreatitis compared to comparators. The 10-year cumulative incidence of hospitalization for AP was 2.7% (95%CI = 2.5-2.8) in ALD and 0.6% (95%CI = 0.58-0.63) in comparators, yielding an adjusted HR of 6.3 (95%CI = 5.8-6.9). Younger age, male sex, and diagnoses of alcohol use disorders and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were independent risk factors for developing AP in ALD. Continued drinking after baseline was associated with a higher risk of AP (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 2.6, 95%CI = 2.29-2.85).ConclusionsALD is associated with 9-fold higher odds of prevalent pancreatitis compared to the general population. The hospitalization rate for AP following ALD diagnosis is 6-fold higher. About 10% of patients with ALD have or develop AP, suggesting that assessing history of pancreatitis and its sequelae might be relevant for patients with ALD.© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Internal Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Publication of The Journal of Internal Medicine.

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