title: [Epidemiologic aspects of 116 acute pancreatitis prospectively studied].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To gather epidemiological data about acute pancreatitis (A.P.) in our environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective analysis of a series of patients in whom A.P. was diagnosed.
  
  
  METHODS
  116 patients with abdominal pain, elevation of pancreatic enzymes and absence of other acute abdominal pathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  These patients made up 2.8% of all emergency admissions to medical departments. Frequency of A.P. was 331 cases per million inhabitants/year. The biliary etiology was the most frequent (70.7%) followed by idiopathic forms (19.8%) and those deriving from alcohol abuse (7.8%). Mean patient age was 64.88 + 15.82 years, while patients with alcoholic A.P. were significantly younger than the other two groups. Women predominated in cases with biliary etiology, while men did so in alcoholic A.P. In cases of biliary A. P. amilasemia levels were significantly higher on admission (2598) than for other groups (1132 in alcohol related cases and 1692 in idiopathic ones). The overall rate of complications was 18.1%. Finally, overall mortality was 5.1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the mean age of our patients was advanced, morbidity and mortality rates were low.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Artaza Varasa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Talavera Fabuel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Legaz Huidobro
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gómez Rodríguez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez Chacón
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Martínez Potenciano
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution
vernacular_title: Aspectos epidemiológicos de 116 pancreatitis agudas estudiadas prospectivamente.