The epidemiology and burden of childhood chronic pancreatitis in South Australia

Available online 3 December 2021OBJECTIVE: To assess longitudinal, population-based data regarding the prevalence and impact of chronic pancreatitis on children. STUDY DESIGN: Administrative data linkage was used to ascertain an index cohort consisting of all individuals who had an initial diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis before the age of 19 years in the South Australian public hospital system between June 2000 and June 2019. Age- and sex-matched controls were drawn from the general population of South Australia, children with type 1 diabetes, and children with type 2 diabetes Main outcomes and measures included: hospital visits, days in hospital, emergency department visits, ICU admissions, education comparators, incidence, and prevalence estimates. RESULTS: A total of 73 incident cases were identified. Crude prevalence and incidence of paediatric chronic pancreatitis were estimated at 6·8/100,000 and 0·98/100,000 per annum respectively. Of the index cohort, 24 (32.8%) cases of paediatric chronic pancreatitis identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Children with chronic pancreatitis averaged 11-fold more hospital visits, 5-fold more emergency department visits, 9-fold more ICU admissions, spent 10-fold more days in hospital, and had 2-fold higher rates of absence from school than matched general population controls (all P <0.001). Children with chronic pancreatitis similarly utilized substantially more health resources than children with type 1 or 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Paediatric patients with chronic pancreatitis consume a high volume of public health services and are significantly impacted in their ability to engage in education.Tristan J.Bampton, Richard Couper, Sanjeev Khurana, David Moore, Alex Brown, Chris Drogemuller ... et al