Can serum resistin predict severity of acute pancreatitis?

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common disorder with high mortality in severe cases. Several markers have been studied to predict development of severe AP (SAP) including serum resistin with conflicting results. This study aimed at assessing the role of baseline serum resistin levels in predicting SAP. This prospective study collected data from 130 AP patients from July 2017 to Nov 2018. Parameters measured included demographic profile, serum resistin at admission, severity scores, hospital stay, surgery, and mortality. Patients were divided into two groups, severe and non-severe AP. The two groups were compared for baseline characteristics, serum resistin levels, hospital stay, surgery and mortality. Among 130 patients, 53 patients had SAP. SAP patients had higher BMI, baseline CRP, APACHE II and CTSI scores (<i>p</i>-value 0.045, &lt;0.001, &lt;0.001 and 0.001, respectively). Both groups had comparable serum resistin levels. Serum resistin levels were also not different for obese and non-obese patients (<i>p</i>-value = 0.62). On multivariate analysis, BMI and high APACHE II score and CRP levels were found to independently predict SAP. We found that serum resistin is not a useful marker for predicting the severity of AP and does not correlate with increasing body weight.