Hypertriglyceridemia tied with severe acute pancreatitis

The risk of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) appears to be significantly and independently associated with hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), reports a recent study.

The study retrospectively assessed the clinical data of 1,122 AP patients who were admitted between January 2016 to June 2020. Multivariate logistic analysis revealed a significant interaction between triglyceride (TG) levels and the odds of developing SAP (odds ratio [OR], 1.602, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.151–2.229; p=0.005).

In particular, moderate HTG, defined as TG levels ≥200 and ≤999 mg/dL more than doubled the likelihood of SAP (OR, 2.116, 95 percent CI, 1.083–4.134; p=0.028). Severe or extremely severe HTG, defined as TG ≥1,000 mg/dL, aggravated such risk by more than fivefold (OR, 5.504, 95 percent CI, 1.434–21.132; p=0.013).

Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that moderate and severe/extremely severe HTG were both acceptable predictors of SAP, with area under the curve values of 0.7024 and 0.599, respectively.

Other notable SAP predictors as identified by univariate analysis included C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score.

“Although the most of acute pancreatitis are mild and self-limiting, SAP might be life-threatening with a mortality up to 30 percent,” the researchers said. “An early and precise prediction of SAP is imperative to guide the individualized therapy for those patients who are prone to progress to the SAP.”