title: Spirits and gastrectomy increase risk for chronic pancreatitis in Japanese male alcoholics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most cases of chronic pancreatitis are alcohol-related, but not all alcoholics develop pancreatitis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate historical and biologic risk factors for this disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Alcoholic Japanese men (n = 132) consecutively admitted to the National Alcoholism Center over 24 months, including 54 with chronic pancreatitis (diagnosed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) and 78 without, were surveyed about drinking history, smoking, education, and marital status, and tested for amylase, glycosylated hemoglobin, body mass, alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase genotypes, and K-ras gene mutations in pancreatic juice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher risk for chronic pancreatitis was associated with drinking spirits rather than lower-alcohol beverages (odds ratio [OR], 2.58; p= 0.01). Daily ethanol consumption by those who drank spirits was greater than that among those who drank lower-alcohol beverages; however, no differences in either daily ethanol consumption or duration of drinking were observed between alcoholics with and without chronic pancreatitis. Postgastrectomy patients were at higher risk for chronic pancreatitis than unoperated comparison subjects (OR, 4.35, P< 0.05). Elevated glycosylated hemoglobin (OR, 4.62, p< 0.01), decreased amylase (OR 4.20, P<0.02), and low body mass (OR 1.89, P<0.1) were more frequent in alcoholics with chronic pancreatitis. K- gene mutations existed in 18.8% of alcoholics with chronic pancreatitis but in only 11.4% of those without the disorder. The frequencies of alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase genotypes in alcoholics with and without pancreatitis did not differ significantly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study strongly suggested that spirits and partial gastrectomy increase the risk for chronic pancreatitis in male alcoholics.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Research, National Alcoholism Center, Kurihama Hospital, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa, Japan. yuji-nakamura@mtg.biglobe.ne.jp
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Shintaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sekiguchi
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imazeki
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higuchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000209:etiology*; D012307:Risk Factors