title: A comparison of presentation and management trends in acute pancreatitis between infants/toddlers and older children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acute pancreatitis is a necroinflammatory disease that leads to 210,000 hospitalizations in the United States annually. Recent reports suggest that there may be important differences in clinical features between infants/toddlers and older children. Thus, in this study we make a direct comparison between the pediatric age groups in presentation and management trends of acute pancreatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined all children (ages 0 to 20 years) admitted to Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital with pancreatitis between 1994 and 2007.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred seventy-one cases met inclusion criteria for acute pancreatitis. Infants and toddlers manifested fewer signs and symptoms of abdominal pain, epigastric tenderness, and nausea compared with older children (43% vs 93%; 57% vs 90%; and 29% vs 76%, respectively; P < 0.05 for all comparisons). They were more likely to be diagnosed by serum lipase than by amylase and to undergo radiographic evaluation (P < 0.05). They had a longer hospital stay (19.5 vs 4 days; P < 0.05) and were less likely to be directly transitioned to oral nutrition (14% vs 71%; P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infants and toddlers with acute pancreatitis present with fewer classical symptoms and are managed differently from older children. We believe these data will be helpful in evaluating and understanding treatment practices in this age group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sahibzada U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Latif
authors.forename: Mahwish U
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bultron
authors.forename: Abrahim I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Orabi
authors.forename: Vineet
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bhandari
authors.forename: Sohail Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Husain
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000681:Amylases / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007902:Length of Stay; D008049:Lipase / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009325:Nausea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D018529:Nutritional Support; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008049:Lipase; D000681:Amylases