title: Hospital discharges and patient activity associated with chronic pancreatitis in Ireland 2009-2013.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate trends in acute public hospital patient discharges in Ireland, to analyse hospital discharge activity for geographical variations, aetiological differences, and to estimate a national prevalence for chronic pancreatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a nationwide retrospective study of all in-patient discharges from acute public hospitals in Ireland, participating in the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) reporting system. We searched for International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) codes K86.0 alcohol-induced chronic pancreatitis, and K86.1 other chronic pancreatitis, and data were extracted for the years 2009-2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 4098 emergency admissions for any aetiology chronic pancreatitis during the 5 year study period. Total discharges ranged from 753 in 2009 to 999 in 2013. Total patients ranged from 530 in 2009 to 601 in 2013. Prevalence of chronic pancreatitis is estimated at 11.6 per 100,000 to 13.0 per 100,000 over the five years. 'Other aetiology chronic pancreatitis' discharges were almost double that of 'alcohol chronic pancreatitis'. We found notable geographical variation in hospital discharge activity for chronic pancreatitis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report a prevalence which is similar to those worldwide studies who adopted a similar methodology utilising exact counts of patients. Our data are an underestimated as they are based on in-patient discharges only, excluding those attending primary care, outpatient or emergency room visits without admission. Despite studying this disease in a population with high per capita alcohol consumption, we report almost twice as many discharges for non-alcohol aetiology chronic pancreatitis.
authors.affiliation: Professorial Surgical Unit, Department of Surgery, Trinity College Dublin, Tallaght Hospital, Ireland. Electronic address: nichonh@tcd.ie.
authors.forename: Hazel M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ní Chonchubhair
authors.affiliation: Professorial Surgical Unit, Department of Surgery, Trinity College Dublin, Tallaght Hospital, Ireland.
authors.forename: Yasir
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bashir
authors.affiliation: Hamilton Library, The University of Dublin Trinity College, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McNaughton
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, The University of Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: Professorial Surgical Unit, Department of Surgery, Trinity College Dublin, Tallaght Hospital, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sinead N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Duggan
authors.affiliation: Professorial Surgical Unit, Department of Surgery, Trinity College Dublin, Tallaght Hospital, Ireland.
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Conlon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Administrative database; Chronic pancreatitis; Discharges; Epidemiology; HIPE; Hospital activity; Prevalence