Acute Pancreatitis: An Exploratory, Cross-sectional, Single-center Study of the Epidemiological Features of the Disease in a Sample of Saudi Patients

Epidemiological studies on Acute Pancreatitis (AP) are significantly scarce in the Saudi Arabian Literature. In this paper, we aim to explore the current trends of AP in a sample of Saudi patients. This is a cross-sectional study in which we reviewed AP-related admissions from 2014 to 2017. Data collected included demographics, clinical presentation, investigations, severity, complications, and the outcome at the end of hospitalization. During the study period, 107 patients were admitted due to AP. Fifty-seven (53%) were males. Biliary pancreatitis was the most common etiology found among our patients (39.3%; 95% CI: 30.5–48.7), followed by alcoholic pancreatitis (11.2%; 95% CI: 6.5–18.6) and hypertriglyceridemia (8%; 95% CI: 4.5–15.2). Pancreatic pseudocysts were the most common complication we found in this series (15%; 95% CI: 9.4–23). Of all the hospitalized patients in this study, eight patients (7.9%) died (95% CI: 3.8–14.1). The number of AP-related admissions and mortality rate appear to have increased as compared with the numbers in earlier national studies. The etiological groups have also changed. As compared with Western/Asian studies, however, there was almost no difference in the epidemiological patterns except for the mortality rate.