title: Estimation of the prevalence of asymptomatic pancreatic cysts in the population of San Marino.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There has been a dramatic increase in the number of pancreatic cystic lesions observed in the past two decades but data regarding the prevalence of cysts in the general population are lacking.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the individuals who undergo CT at the San Marino State Hospital are residents of the Republic of San Marino; their demographic distribution is available and precise. CT scans carried out over 1 year at the State Hospital were reviewed for asymptomatic pancreatic cysts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1061 relevant CT scans were carried out on 814 patients; 762 individuals were eligible for the study and 650 patients underwent contrast-enhanced CT. Thirty-five patients had at least one cyst at contrast-enhanced CT (5.4%). The prevalence of cysts increased with increasing age up to 13.4% (95% CI 6.6-20) in individuals 80-89 years of age (p < .001). Cyst prevalence was significantly higher in patients who underwent CT for malignancy (p = .038) but this difference was no longer significant in multivariate analysis. The odds of a cyst being present increased by 1.05 (95% CI 1.02-1.09) for each increasing year of age (p = .002). Approximately a quarter of the patients with cysts died within 1 year after CT from non pancreas-related disease. The estimated standardized age-adjusted cyst prevalence is 2194 per 100,000 people.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The likelihood of having a pancreatic cyst correlates with increasing age, not with the presence of extra-pancreatic malignancies. The estimated prevalence of CT-detectable asymptomatic pancreatic cysts in the general population is 2.2%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino. Electronic address: nicozanini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zanini
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Elia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Smerieri
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cipolla d'Abruzzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pazzaglini
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Fiorella
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chiaruzzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vitullo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piva
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Maggiore Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Maggiore Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Elio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jovine
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Marino
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, San Marino State Hospital, San Marino.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Landolfo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D010181:Pancreatic Cyst / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D015995:Prevalence; D012496:San Marino / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: Computed tomography; Cyst; Epidemiology; IPMN; Pancreas; Prevalence