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Research Suggests Smoking May Be Associated with Increased Pancreatitis Risk

March 31, 2009 – According to Danish researchers, "Smoking appears to be associated with an increased risk for acute and chronic pancreatitis." That assertion is based on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine of "9,573 women and 8,332 men in Denmark who underwent a physical examination and completed self-administered questionnaires about lifestyle habits at baseline, and who were followed up for a mean of 20.2 years."

Eventually, the team noted that "there were 235 cases of pancreatitis." They also discovered, however, that "there was a dose-response association between smoking and risk for acute and chronic pancreatitis in both men and women." In fact, "among those who smoked 15 to 24 g of tobacco per day, the hazard ratio of developing pancreatitis was 2.6 for women and 2.6 for men." And, while "alcohol consumption was associated with increased risk for pancreatitis, the risk for pancreatitis linked to smoking was independent of alcohol and gallstone disease."