Steatorrhea in patients with chronic pancreatitis and the risk factors

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Objective To investigate the occurrence and risk factors of steatorrhea in chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients. Methods Data of CP patients admitted to Department of Gastroenterology in Changhai Hospital from January 2000 to December 2008 were retrospectively analyzed.The cumulative rate of steatorrhea was calculated by using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was performed to detect risk factors for steatorrhea. Results A total of 591 CP patients were included and 85.62% of them were followed up with an average duration of (10.6±6.3) years. There were 152(25.72%) patients who had steatorrhea and the ratio of men to women was 3.61∶1. The main cause for steatorrhea was ICP and there were 120 ICP patients who had steatorrhea. The cumulative rates of steatorrhea at 1, 5 and 10 years after CP diagnosis were 20%, 26% and 29%, respectively, and no significant differences were detected on the incidence in male and female patients (P=0.143). Nine variables identified from univariate analyses were involved in Cox proportional hazards regression mode1 were age of CP onset, age of CP diagnosis, gender, drinking, smoking, genetic factors, biliary stenosis, pancreatic pseudocyst and abdominal pain. The results demonstrated that age of CP onset (RR=1.055, P=0.035), biliary stenosis (RR=1.943, P=0.041) and abdominal pain (RR=0.419, P=0.006) were the independent risk factors for steatorrhea in CP patients. Conclusions More than 25% of CP patients developed steatorrhea and old age of onset, biliary stenosis and abdominal pain were three independent risk factors for steatorrhea. Key words: Pancreatitis, chronic; Steatorrhea; Risk factors