Polypharmacy and risk of acute pancreatitis.

PURPOSE: Drug-induced pancreatitis is receiving increased medical and epidemiological attention. However, as no study has examined the role of polypharmacy per se in the development of acute pancreatitis, we examined the association between polypharmacy and risk of acute pancreatitis. METHODS: A nationwide case-control study was conducted between 2006 and 2008 of Swedish people aged 40-84 years. The Swedish Patient Register was used to identify 6161 cases of first-episode acute pancreatitis. The Swedish Register of the Total Population was used to randomly select 61 637 controls from the general population using frequency-based density sampling, matched for age, sex, and calendar year. The Swedish Prescribed Drug Register was used to assess polypharmacy, defined as the number of unique drugs prescribed during the last 6 months before the index date (i.e. the date of acute pancreatitis for cases and a random date for controls). Odds ratios (ORs), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), of acute pancreatitis were estimated by unconditional logistic regression, adjusted for matching variables and potential confounding factors. RESULTS: The number of prescribed drugs was associated with a dose-dependent increase in the risk of acute pancreatitis. In the multivariable-adjusted model, compared to those without any prescriptions, the OR was 1.69 (95%CI: 1.55-1.86) for persons with 1-2 drugs, 2.40 (2.20-2.62) for 3-5 drugs, 3.17 (2.88-3.48) for 6-9 drugs, and 4.57 (4.12-5.06) for 10 or more drugs. CONCLUSION: This population-based case-control study shows a dose-dependent association between increasing polypharmacy and risk of acute pancreatitis. These findings provide further insights into drug-induced pancreatitis. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Increased risk for complications after colorectal surgery with selective cyclo-oxygenase 2 inhibitor etoricoxib.

BACKGROUND: Cyclo-oxygenase 2 inhibitors can be used for pain treatment after colorectal surgery. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of etoricoxib has negative effects on the perioperative outcome in colorectal surgery. DESIGN: Complication data from an advanced medical database system were sampled prospectively, and patient records were reviewed retrospectively. PATIENTS: All patients with elective colorectal surgery within an enhanced recovery after surgery protocol from 2008 to 2009 were selected. INTERVENTION: The nonrandomized use of perioperative etoricoxib treatment was compared with a control group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measured was the number of patients with postoperative complications according to the Dindo-Clavien classification. RESULTS: One hundred one patients received etoricoxib treatment, whereas 104 did not. The patient groups were very comparable. We observed a significant increase in the number of patients with postoperative complications with etoricoxib treatment (43 vs 30 patients; 42.6% vs 28.8%, p = 0.041) due to an increase in patients with a major complication (Dindo-Clavien complication grade III-V: 22.8% vs 9.6%, p = 0.01). Patients with etoricoxib treatment and a complication needed a longer recovery period than patients with a complication in the control group (18 (17; 20) vs 14 (13; 15) days, p = 0.05). We observed an increased level of postoperative serum creatinine with etoricoxib treatment (105 (98; 112) vs 82 (78; 85), p = 0.003), which was more pronounced in patients with a complication (141 (127; 155) vs 91 (83; 98), p = 0.002; 25 vs 8 patients with serum creatinine >100 µmol/L, p = 0.008). In multivariate analysis, etoricoxib was identified as an independent risk factor for experiencing a major complication with a risk increase of approximately 2.5-fold (p = 0.03). LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by the nonrandomized use of perioperative etoricoxib and the retrospective nature of its review of patient records. CONCLUSIONS: Etoricoxib increased the number of patients with postoperative complications and should be considered carefully in colorectal surgery.

[Umbilical pilonidal sinus - a rare disease?] / Pilonidalsinus i naveln ­ ovanlig diagnos eller stort mörkertal?

Umbilical pilonidal sinus is a rare diagnosis which is characterized by an inflammatory granulomatous reaction to hair shafts penetrating the epidermis. It is most often seen in adolescent male with a hairy abdomen. The patients often present with a history of pain and umbilical discharge. Conservative treatment with hair extraction and personal hygiene is prioritized and surgery is only recommended in recurrent cases. Here one such case is presented, which was resistant to conservative treatment and where surgical excision and primary repair was indicated. No recurrence was observed 6 months postoperatively.

Reliability of acute pancreatitis diagnosis coding in a National Patient Register: a validation study in Sweden.

AIM: National patient registers are powerful tools in epidemiological research and healthcare administration. As the level of reliability of diagnoses that are partly based on clinical signs, such as acute pancreatitis, may be low, the reliability of discharge diagnoses in these registers needs to be validated. The main aim of this study was to validate the diagnosis coding for acute pancreatitis in the Swedish National Patient Register. METHOD: We randomly sampled 650 admissions of all patients registered in the Swedish National Patient Register with acute pancreatitis or other nonmalignant pancreatic disorders as the main diagnosis in 2007 and 1998, and as the secondary diagnosis in 2007. The medical records for these admissions were reviewed. We analyzed the concordance between the coding of acute pancreatitis in the Swedish National Patient Register and criteria based on internationally accepted diagnostic standards. RESULTS: We received 603 medical records for manual review. Among the 530 patients with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis in the Swedish National Patient Register, 442 (83%) were, after review, defined as definitive acute pancreatitis, 80 (15%) as probable acute pancreatitis, and 8 (2%) as no acute pancreatitis. There were no significant differences in the reliability of the diagnosis with regard to sex, age, time period or whether the patient had been treated at a county or university hospital. Among the 73 patients registered with a non-malignant pancreatic disorder other than acute pancreatitis, the number of false-negative cases of acute pancreatitis was 23 (32%). They were mainly found among patients registered with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis. CONCLUSION: The Swedish National Patient Register is highly reliable as regards correct coding of acute pancreatitis. However, there seems to be a non-negligible share of false-negative cases of acute pancreatitis among patients registered with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis.