Atrial fibrillation associated with acute pancreatitis: a retrospective cohort study in Taiwan

There is little data on the relationship between atrial fibrillation and acute pancreatitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether atrial fibrillation is associated with acute pancreatitis.

This retrospective cohort study analyzed the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program from 2000 to 2010. There were 8,981 subjects aged 20-84 with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation as the atrial fibrillation group and 26,643 sex- and age-matched, randomly selected subjects without atrial fibrillation as the non-atrial fibrillation group. We used the multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model to measure the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for acute pancreatitis risk associated with atrial fibrillation and other comorbidities.

The crude incidence rates of acute pancreatitis were 3.07 per 1,000 person-years in the atrial fibrillation group and 2.03 per 1,000 person-years in the non-atrial fibrillation group (incidence rate ratio 1.51, 95% CI 1.40, 1.63). After controlling for potential confounding factors, the adjusted HR of acute pancreatitis was 1.46 for the atrial fibrillation group, as compared with the non-atrial fibrillation group (95% CI 1.18, 1.80). In further analysis, even in the absence of alcohol-related disease and biliary stone, the adjusted HR of acute pancreatitis was 1.62 for the atrial fibrillation group, as compared with the non-atrial fibrillation group (95% CI 1.24, 2.12).

Atrial fibrillation is associated with acute pancreatitis in the Taiwanese population, even in the absence of alcohol-related disease and biliary stone. Further research is necessary to explore the pathogenesis underlying the relationship between atrial fibrillation and acute pancreatitis.