Association of elevated serum triglyceride levels with a more severe course of acute pancreatitis: Cohort analysis of 1457 patients

Abstract Background Previous publications have reported an association between hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) and severity of acute pancreatitis, but this relationship remains somewhat controversial. Objective To evaluate the outcome of acute pancreatitis according to serum triglyceride levels on admission. Methods Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data, which included all consecutive cases of acute pancreatitis admitted to a tertiary hospital (January 2002–December 2014). Acute pancreatitis patients were classified into 3 groups based on serum triglyceride levels (mg/dl) measured within 48 h from admission: normal triglycerides-mild HTG ( Results A total of 1,457 cases were included: 1,335 with normal-mild HTG, 77 with moderate HTG and 45 with severe HTG. The rates of organ failure (11.2% in normal-mild HTG group, 15.6% in moderate HTG and 20.0% in severe HTG), persistent multiple organ failure (2.5% vs. 5.2% vs. 6.7%), pancreatic necrosis (9.2% vs. 14.3% vs. 26.7%) and acute collections (21.6% vs. 40.3% vs. 55.6%) increased significantly with hypertriglyceridemia severity grades. On multivariate analysis, triglycerides as a quantitative variable, evaluated in increments of 100 mg/dl, was independently associated with organ failure, pancreatic necrosis, acute collections and mortality (p  Conclusions Elevated serum triglyceride levels are independently associated with a more severe course of pancreatitis. It must be highlighted the elevated frequency of local complications in patients with HTG that increases proportionally and significantly with HTG severity grades.