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Nationwide epidemiological survey of early chronic pancreatitis in Japan

  • Original Article—Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Tract
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

The world’s first diagnostic criteria for early CP were proposed in 2009 in Japan. This study aimed to clarify the clinico-epidemiological features of early CP in Japan.

Methods

Patients with early CP who were diagnosed according to the diagnostic criteria for early CP and had visited the selected hospitals in 2011 were surveyed. The study consisted of two-stage surveys: the number of patients with early CP was estimated by the first questionnaire and their clinical features were assessed by the second questionnaire.

Results

The estimated number of early CP patients was 5410 (95% confidence interval 3675–6945), with an overall prevalence of 4.2 per 100,000 persons. The number of patients who were newly diagnosed with early CP was estimated to be 1330 (95% confidence interval 1058–1602), with an annual incidence of 1.0 per 100,000 persons. Detailed clinical information was obtained in 151 patients in the second survey. The male-to-female sex ratio was 1.32:1. The mean age was 60.4 and the mean age at disease onset was 55.4. Idiopathic (47.7%) and alcoholic (45.0%) were the two most common etiologies. Proportions of female and idiopathic cases were higher in early CP than in definite CP. Hyperechoic foci without shadowing and stranding were the most common findings on endoscopic ultrasonography. The clinical profiles of early CP patients who showed lobularity with honeycombing on endoscopic ultrasonography or previous episodes of acute pancreatitis were similar to those of definite CP patients.

Conclusions

We clarified the current status of early CP in Japan.

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Abbreviations

AIP:

Autoimmune pancreatitis

AP:

Acute pancreatitis

CP:

Chronic pancreatitis

DCECP:

Diagnostic criteria for early CP

ERCP:

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

EUS:

Endoscopic ultrasonography

SD:

Standard deviation

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the doctors who kindly replied to the questionnaires. This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan (to YT and TS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gastroenterology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Atsushi Masamune, Kazuhiro Kikuta, Tatsuhide Nabeshima, Eriko Nakano, Morihisa Hirota, Atsushi Kanno, Kiyoshi Kume, Shin Hamada & Tooru Shimosegawa

  2. Department of Medicine and Bioregulatory Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Tetsuhide Ito

  3. Department of Gastroenterology, Toyohashi Municipal Hospital, Toyohashi, Japan

    Motokazu Fujita

  4. Department of Gastroenterology, Aizu Medical Center, Fukushima Medical University, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan

    Atsushi Irisawa

  5. Department of Gastroenterology, Gifu Municipal Hospital, Toyohashi, Japan

    Masanori Nakashima

  6. Department of Gastroenterology, JA Onomichi General Hospital, Onomichi, Japan

    Keiji Hanada

  7. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Takaaki Eguchi

  8. Department of Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

    Ryusuke Kato

  9. Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan

    Osamu Inatomi

  10. Shirane Gastrointestinal Clinic, Sendai, Japan

    Akio Shirane

  11. Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, Osaka, Japan

    Yoshifumi Takeyama

  12. Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan

    Ichiro Tsuji

Authors
  1. Atsushi Masamune
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  2. Kazuhiro Kikuta
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  3. Tatsuhide Nabeshima
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  5. Morihisa Hirota
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  8. Shin Hamada
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  18. Yoshifumi Takeyama
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  20. Tooru Shimosegawa
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Research Committee of Intractable Pancreatic Diseases in Japan

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Atsushi Masamune.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Masamune, A., Kikuta, K., Nabeshima, T. et al. Nationwide epidemiological survey of early chronic pancreatitis in Japan. J Gastroenterol 52, 992–1000 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-017-1311-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-017-1311-8

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