Increased Risk of Acute Pancreatitis in Patients with Chronic Hemodialysis: A 4-Year Follow-Up Study

Background The risk of acute pancreatitis in patients on long-term peritoneal dialysis is higher as compared to the general population. However, the relationship between long-term hemodialysis and acute pancreatitis has never been established. Objectives We investigated the incidence of acute pancreatitis among patients on long-term hemodialysis in Taiwan to evaluate if there is a higher risk of acute pancreatitis in comparison to the general population. Methods We utilized a National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data sample containing one million beneficiaries. We followed all adult beneficiaries from January 1, 2007 until December 31, 2010 to see if they had been hospitalized for acute pancreatitis during this period. We further identified patients on chronic hemodialysis and compared their risk of acute pancreatitis with the general population. Results This study included 2603 patients with long-term hemodialysis and 773,140 patients without hemodialysis. After controlling for age, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index Score, geographic region, socioeconomic status and urbanization level, the adjusted hazard ratio was 3.44 (95% Confidence interval, 2.5–4.7). Conclusions The risk of acute pancreatitis in patients on long-term hemodialysis is significantly higher in comparison to the general population.