Finasteride use and acute pancreatitis in Taiwan

The aim of this study was to examine whether there is an association between finasteride use and the risk of acute pancreatitis. This population-based case-control study used the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 2,530 male subjects aged 40-84 years with a first-attack of acute pancreatitis during the period of 1998-2011 as the case group and 10,119 randomly selected subjects without acute pancreatitis as the control group. Both groups were matched by age and index year of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Subjects who never had finasteride prescription were defined as "never use." Subjects who at least received 1 prescription for finasteride before the date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis were defined as "ever use." The association of acute pancreatitis with finasteride use was examined by the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using the multivariable unconditional logistic regression model. The crude OR of acute pancreatitis was 1.78 (95%CI 1.33, 2.39) for subjects with ever use of finasteride, when compared with subjects with never use of finasteride. After adjusting for potential confounders, the adjusted OR of acute pancreatitis decreased to 1.25 (95%CI 0.90, 1.73) for subjects with ever use of finasteride, but no statistical significance was seen. No association can be detected between finasteride use and the risk of acute pancreatitis.