Diabetics More Likely to Develop Pancreatic Disease

Thu, 02 Jun 2011
Those with type 2 diabetes can have an increased risk of developing a painful condition called acute pancreatitis . According to a new study, however, such likelihood can be curtailed by those on diabetes drugs .

Acute pancreatitis involves a sudden inflammation of the pancreas causing upper abdominal pain, vomiting and nausea.

Mild cases can go away without having to have treatment however acute pancreatitis can be serious, involving life-threatening conditions, such as lung, heart or kidney failure . The disease means that approximately 200,000 Americans are hospitalised every year.

New research has discovered that among 97,000 Taiwanese adults over eight years, type 2 diabetics had twice the rate of acute pancreatitis, nearly 28 cases per 10,000 people annually, versus 14 cases for every 10,000 non diabetics .

Diabetics were more likely to have several risk factors for acute pancreatitis, including heavy drinking and gallstones, two of the most frequent causes of pancreas inflammation, in addition to high triglycerides, a kind of blood fat, as well as a history of hepatitis B or C.

However, when those conditions were accounted for, diabetes was associated with an 89 percent increase in the risk of acute pancreatitis.

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