Epidemiology of Pediatric Acute Pancreatitis in Taiwan: A Nationwide Population-based Study

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric acute pancreatitis (AP) may be different from adult AP in various respects. This study focuses on the epidemiology and medical resource use of pediatric AP in Taiwan. METHODS: Patients aged 0 to 18 years with AP were identified from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code of AP 577.0. The medical resource use was measured by length of hospital stay and hospital charges. RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2013, a total of 2127 inpatient cases of pediatric AP were collected, which represented a hospitalization rate of 2.83 per 100,000 population. The incidence by age had 2 peaks, the first peak was at age 4 to 5 years old, and the second one started rising from 12 to 13 years old until adulthood. The incidence by year increased from 2.33 to 3.07 cases per 100,000 population during the study period. The average hospital stay is steady, but the medical cost is increasing. Girls have longer hospital stays, higher medical expenditures, more use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography possibly due to more comorbidities with biliary tract diseases than boys (P < 0.05). The mortality in cases of AP is mostly associated with systemic diseases rather than AP itself. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of pediatric AP in Taiwan is in a rising trend. There are gender differences in length of hospital stay, medical costs, use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and comorbidities.