Prevalence and characteristics of the metabolic syndrome in patients with chronic pancreatitis

Abstract

Objective: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) and metabolic syndrome (MS) share a bidirectional cause and effect relation. We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of MS in patients with CP and compared the same between alcoholic CP and tropical CP (TCP).

Materials and Methods: In this cross‑sectional, observational study, we included serial patients of CP presented to our hospital. We excluded CP patients with other known systemic disorders, long‑term intake of drugs that could affect the lipids and also excluded patients with features of exocrine deficiency. The study population is grouped as alcoholic CP (Group 1; n = 65) and TCP (Group 2; n = 37). A fasting blood sample was checked for all the biochemical parameters, and MS was defined as per the Asian modification of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III definition. The results were analyzed by appropriate statistical methods.

Results: The study participants (85 male and 17 female) had a mean age 40.8 ± 12.6 years, CP duration 3.7 ± 4.7 year, and body mass index of 22.5 ± 3.2 kg/m². A total of 27 (26%) out of 102 patients had the presence of the MS, which was similar in frequency between both the groups (P = 0.0991). Hyperglycemia and low high‑density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‑C) were the common features in alcoholic CP, whereas TCP patents showed hyperglycemia, abdominal obesity, and low HDL‑C. None of the participants had all the five components, and seven patients had no features of the MS.

Conclusion: MS is seen in a quarter of patients with CP, and the prevalence is same irrespective of the underlying etiology.

Keywords: Alcohol, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome