Data from: Primary Sjogren’s syndrome and the risk of acute pancreatitis: a nationwide cohort study

Objective Studies on the risk of acute pancreatitis in patients with
primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) are limited. We evaluated the effects of
pSS on the risk of acute pancreatitis in a nationwide, population-based
cohort in Taiwan. Study design Population-based retrospective cohort
study. Setting We studied the claims data of the >97% Taiwan
population from 2002 to 2012. Participants We identified 9468 patients
with pSS by using the catastrophic illness registry of the National Health
Insurance Database in Taiwan. We also selected 37 872 controls that were
randomly frequency matched by age (in 5 year bands), sex and index year
from the general population. Primary outcome measure We analysed the risk
of acute pancreatitis by using Cox proportional hazards regression models
including sex, age and comorbidities. Results From 23.74 million people in
the cohort, 9468 patients with pSS (87% women, mean age=55.6 years) and
37 872 controls were followed-up for 4.64 and 4.74 years, respectively. A
total of 44 cases of acute pancreatitis were identified in the pSS cohort
versus 105 cases in the non-pSS cohort. Multivariate Cox regression
analysis indicated that the incidence rate of acute pancreatitis was
significantly higher in the pSS cohort than in the non-pSS cohort
(adjusted HR (aHR) 1.48, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.12). Cyclophosphamide use
increased the risk of acute pancreatitis (aHR 5.27, 95% CI 1.16 to 23.86).
By contrast, hydroxychloroquine reduced the risk of acute pancreatitis
(aHR 0.23, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.55). Conclusion This nationwide, retrospective
cohort study demonstrated that the risk of acute pancreatitis was
significantly higher in patients with pSS than in the general population.