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Prevalence of primary painless chronic pancreatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. William H. Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA; Pancreatitis Center, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Indiana University Medical Center, Indiana, USA. Centre for Pancreatic Diseases and Mech-Sense, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA; Pancreatitis Center, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: vsingh1@jhmi.edu.

Pancreatology : official journal of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) ... [et al.]. 2022;(1):20-29
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Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES While pain is the predominant symptom of chronic pancreatitis (CP), a subset of patients may experience a painless course. This systematic review aimed to determine the prevalence of primary painless CP. METHODS MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE and Web of Science Core Collection databases were searched for published studies through September 15, 2020 that included at least 10 consecutive patients with CP and which reported the number with painless CP. The presence of a history of recurrent acute pancreatitis (RAP), exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), diabetes mellitus (DM) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) in the painless CP patients was also recorded. A random effects model was used to determine pooled prevalence estimates with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS Among the 5057 studies identified and screened, 42 full-text articles were included in the final analysis. There were a total of 14,277 patients with CP among whom 1569 had painless CP. The pooled prevalence of painless CP was 12% (95% CI 10-15%). Among a subset of studies that reported on calcifications (n = 11), DM (n = 12), EPI (n = 8) and history of RAP (n = 14), the pooled prevalence estimates were 96% (95% CI 73-100%), 51% (95% CI 32-70%), and 47% (95% CI 15-81%), respectively. Alcohol, idiopathic/genetic and other etiologies were attributed to be the cause of painless CP in 32.4%, 56.9% and 8.9% patients, respectively. CONCLUSION Approximately one in ten patients with CP have primary painless disease with the majority being attributable to an idiopathic/genetic etiology. Further research is needed to determine the optimal management of these patients.

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Publication Type : Meta-Analysis

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