Acute pancreatitis in children - morbidity and outcomes at 1 year

• Main Authors: Julian PH Shield (Author), Toby Candler (Author), AA Majbar (Author), E Cusick (Author), LP Hunt (Author), A Bhanot (Author), Paul R V Johnson (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: BMJ Publishing Group, 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Objective To establish short-term and medium-term complications 1-year postdiagnosis, of acute pancreatitis (AP) in children aged 0-14 years.Design One-year follow-up of a prospective monthly surveillance of new cases of AP in children under 15 years through the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) from April 2013 to April 2014.Setting A monthly surveillance of >3700 consultant paediatricians and paediatric surgeons in the UK and Ireland using the BPSU.Patients Children aged 0-14 years with a new diagnosis of AP.Main outcome measures The outcomes following AP, including the incidence of complications and comorbidity at diagnosis and at 1 year.Results Of the 94 new confirmed cases of AP identified in the UK during the study period, 90 cases (96%) were included in the 1-year follow-up. 30 patients (32%) developed further episode(s) of AP. Over one-fifth of patients developed one or more major complication. At initial admission, the most common of these was pancreatic necrosis (n=8, 9%), followed by respiratory failure (n=7, 7%). Reported complications by 1 year were pseudocyst formation (n=9, 10%), diabetes requiring insulin therapy (n=4, 4%) and maldigestion (n=1, 1%). At 1-year postdiagnosis, only 59% of children made a full recovery with no acute or chronic complications or recurrent episodes of AP. Two patients died, indicating a case fatality of ~2.0%.Conclusions AP in childhood is associated with significant short-term and medium-term complications and comorbidities including risk of recurrence in approximately a third of cases.

Item Description

10.1136/bmjpo-2022-001487
2399-9772