Use of the Japanese health insurance claims database to assess the risk of acute pancreatitis in patients with diabetes: comparison of DPP-4 inhibitors with other oral antidiabetic drugs

This study was initiated to evaluate the association of acute pancreatitis (AP) with the use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors among patients with diabetes in Japan. A retrospective cohort study of a large medical and pharmacy claims database was performed to compare the incidence of AP among those receiving DPP-4 inhibitors and those receiving other oral antidiabetic drugs. The incidence of all AP and hospitalizations for AP was similar between the two groups. Previous exposure to DPP-4 inhibitors did not affect occurrence of AP in patients on other oral antidiabetic drugs. The Kaplan–Meier curve for time to AP was similar between the two groups, and was not affected by previous exposure to DPP-4 inhibitors. The Cox proportional hazard models showed the incidence of AP was not significantly higher in those receiving DPP-4 inhibitors. Despite numerous, important limitations related to claims database-based analyses, our results indicate that there is no increased risk of AP with use of DPP-4 inhibitors among patients with diabetes in Japan.