Introduction: In recent years, many advances have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of acute pancreatitis that have lead to a significant reduction in both morbidity and mortality; however, knowledge of the etiology and of the relation between etiology and mortality is far from complete.
Aim: To obtain a more comprehensive view of the etiology and mortality of acute pancreatitis in Europe than has been given by previous single-center studies.
Methodology: The study comprised 1,068 patients in five European countries who were admitted to hospitals for acute pancreatitis from January 1990 to December 1994. Data for each patient were collected on a standardized form.
Results: Of the 1,068 patients (692 men, 376 women; mean age, 52.8 years; range, 10-95 years), 589 had edematous pancreatitis, and 479 the necrotic form. Cholelithiasis (37.1%) and alcohol (41.0%) were the most frequent etiologic factors. In Germany, cholelithiasis and alcohol occurred with similar frequency (34.9 and 37.9%, respectively); in Hungary, alcohol predominates over cholelithiasis (60.7 vs. 24.0%); in France, a small predominance of alcohol was seen (38.5 vs. 24.6%); and in Greece and Italy, there was a clear predominance of cholelithiasis over alcohol (71.4 vs. 6.0% and 60.3 vs. 13.2%, respectively). The differences in the frequency of cholelithiasis and alcohol between Greece and Italy and the other countries were statistically significant (p < 0.01). Eighty-three patients (7.8%) died of acute pancreatitis; 77 (16.1%) had necrotic disease and 6 (1.0%) edematous. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality among the etiologic groups, and no relation was found between mortality and age.
Conclusion: Both cholelithiasis and alcohol were main etiologic factors in the more northern countries studied, whereas cholelithiasis alone predominated in the more southern ones. Mortality was high for necrotic pancreatitis; it was similar among the various etiologic groups, and there was no relationship between mortality and age.