The purpose of this study was to estimate the degree of association between clinical (Ranson criteria) and radiological variables (Abdominal CT scan) with degree of severity in patients with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.
Method: All patients discharged with the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2012 in a community hospital were selected (N=174). The following variables were studied: sex; age; weight; height; admission and discharge dates; presence of several chronic conditions; laboratory results included in Ranson criteria; abdominal CT category; outcome, including fatality surgery, and other complications. Analysis included descriptive statistics and Risk-Ratios for complications for different groups of subjects, using clinical and radiological criteria.
Results: The incidence rate of complications, including fatality, surgery and organ failure was 36.2%. Factors that showed significant associations with the risk of complication on crude analysis were gallbladder disease with a RR=1.78 ($95% CI: 1.22, 2.60) and abnormal abdominal CT with a RR=1.85 (95% CI: 1.11, 3.07). with multivariate analysis, gallbladder disease, abnormal abdominal CT, and presence of 3 or more Ranson's criteria showed increased risk for complications, but the results did not reach statistical significance.
Discussion: The factors that seemed to be associated with increased rate of complications in subjects with acute pancreatitis were gallbladder disease, abnormal abdominal CT, and 3 or more Ranson's criteria. The Results did not show statistical significance probably because of low statistical power of the study.