Clinical profile of early-onset and late-onset idiopathic chronic pancreatitis in South India

Idiopathic chronic pancreatitis (ICP) is the most common form of chronic pancreatitis reported in India. There is paucity of literature on the prevalence and profiles of early- and late-onset forms of ICP in India.

We compared the profile of early- and late-onset ICP in a patient population attending a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Pain was the characteristic feature as more than 90 % with both early-onset and late-onset ICP had pain as the most significant symptom. Onset of pain was at age 14.9 ± 7.7 years in early-onset and at 38.1 ± 9.9 in late-onset ICP (p < 0.001). There was considerable delay between onset of pain in early onset as compared to late-onset ICP. Diabetes was seen in 41.4 % in early-onset as compared to 69.1 % in late-onset ICP (p < 0.001). Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency was seen in 34.4 % in early-onset as compared to 53.2 % in late-onset ICP (p < 0.001). Increased prevalence of exocrine insufficiency and diabetes was observed in late-onset as compared to early-onset ICP. Univariate analysis showed that alcohol use, smoking, age, and family history of diabetes were significantly associated with diabetes. Multivariate analysis showed strong associations for diabetes with smoking (odds ratio (OR) = 4.2), calcification (OR = 7.7), as well as family history and age >40 years.

There were differences between early-onset and late-onset ICP in southern Indian patients. Diabetes was strongly associated with smoking and pancreatic calcification.