Cohort profile: the Swedish Pancreatitis Cohort (SwePan)

PURPOSE: The Swedish Pancreatitis Cohort (SwePan) was designed to study long-term outcomes following an episode of acute pancreatitis. It can also be used to study various risk factors for developing acute pancreatitis. PARTICIPANTS: The SwePan is a register-based nationwide matched cohort. It includes all Swedish cases of acute pancreatitis during 1990–2019. It contains 95 632 individuals with acute pancreatitis and 952 783 pancreatitis-free individuals matched on sex, age and municipality of residence. Follow-up was censored at death, emigration or end of study (31 December 2019). The dataset includes comprehensive information based on several registries, and includes diagnoses, prescribed medications and socioeconomic factors both prior to inclusion and during follow-up. FINDINGS TO DATE: During the study period, the number of cases of acute pancreatitis in Sweden has more than doubled from 1977 cases in 1990 to 4264 cases in 2019. The median age of first episode of acute pancreatitis has increased from 58 years (IQR 44–73 years) in 1990 to 64 years (IQR 49–76 years) in 2019. Cases with acute pancreatitis were generally less healthy compared with the pancreatitis-free individuals (Charlson Comorbidity Index of 0 in 59.2% and 71.4%, respectively). FUTURE PLANS: SwePan will be used to determine the incidence of acute pancreatitis in Sweden over time and assess long-term all-cause and cause-specific mortality after an episode of acute pancreatitis. Some examples of additional planned studies are (1) assessment of long-term risk of diabetes and (2) risk of malignancy in adjacent organs following acute pancreatitis and (3) assessment of risk factors for development of acute pancreatitis including various drugs.