title: The Hong Kong criteria and severity prediction in acute pancreatitis.
abstract: Fan et al. have reported that a blood urea > 7.4 mmol/L and/or glucose > 11 mmol/L at the time of admission to hospital detect severe acute pancreatitis with a sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 80.3%. We have retrospectively applied these criteria to a consecutive series of 125 patients with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis within the West of Scotland. Utilizing the Hong Kong criteria we were only able to detect severe attacks of acute pancreatitis with a sensitivity of 33% (specificity of 83%). By lowering the concentration of urea and glucose employed to > or = 4.9 mmol/L and > or = 7.5 mmol/L, respectively, and utilizing peak concentrations recorded during the first 48 h rather than values measured at the time of admission, we were able to increase the sensitivity to 65% while reducing the specificity to 77%. Even after modification, the Hong Kong criteria were a less effective means of identifying severe attacks of acute pancreatitis than either the Glasgow scoring system (sensitivity 78% and specificity 86%) or clinical assessment at 48 h (sensitivity 82% and specificity 96%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Scotland.
authors.forename: D I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Heath
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Imrie
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014508:Urea / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D014508:Urea