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FRIDAY, Aug. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Acute pancreatitis may be a gastrointestinal manifestation of COVID-19, according to research published online Aug. 26 in Gastroenterology<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Sumant Inamdar, M.B.B.S., from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, and colleagues assessed the point prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 presenting with acute pancreatitis in a large New York health system (March 1 through June 1, 2020). Outcomes were compared for those with pancreatitis and COVID-19 versus those with pancreatitis but without COVID-19.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that during the study period, 189 patients met the criteria for a diagnosis of pancreatitis (point prevalence, 0.39 percent), and 32 of the 189 (17 percent) were COVID-19-positive, yielding a point prevalence of 0.27 percent of pancreatitis among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. There was a higher proportion of Black and Hispanic patients with pancreatitis in the COVID-19-positive group versus the COVID-19-negative group, which remained significant in an adjusted analysis (odds ratios, 4.48 and 5.07, respectively). Patients with pancreatitis and COVID-19 were more likely to require mechanical ventilation and have longer hospital stays versus patients with pancreatitis but not COVID-19 (odds ratios, 5.65 and 3.22, respectively).<\/p>\n
“These findings support the notion that pancreatitis should be included in the list of gastrointestinal manifestations of COVID-19,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.<\/p>\n