The lifestyle influence on alcoholic pancreatitis versus alcoholic liver disease: a case-control study

To evaluate the association of lifestyle with the development of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) or alcoholic pancreatitis (AlcP).

A case-control study was conducted on 80 patients attending a tertiary university hospital, subdivided into three groups: ALD (n = 34), AlcP (n = 21) and a control (CT) group (n = 25) of alcohol abusers without clinical evidence of hepatic or pancreatic disease. Participants were interviewed regarding alcohol consumption, tobacco use and diet. A physical examination was concomitantly performed and we had access to their complementary investigation.

We included 10 females and 70 males (mean age 57 ± 10 years). The pure amount of alcohol consumed by the ALD group was significantly higher than the AlcP group, regarding both daily (grams/day) and lifetime (kilograms) consumptions (p = .018 and p = .009, respectively); no statistically significant differences were seen with the CT group. We found no differences regarding the beverage type or drinking outside meals. Smoking was very common in every study group, with higher consumptions and a significantly higher prevalence of ever smokers in the AlcP group, in comparison with ALD and CT patients (p = .033 and p = .036, respectively). There were significant differences in the patients' eating habits before the onset of disease between groups (p < .001), with ALD subjects reporting a less abundant diet and AlcP a more abundant diet in the past; most of the controls had unchanged habits.

We found differences in lifestyle between ALD and AlcP, not considered sufficient to explain the subjects' susceptibility to one disease or the other.