THE CALENDAR AND ACUTE-PANCREATITIS

To find out whether a seasonal pattern exists for acute pancreatitis, the weekday and month of admission were retrospectively checked for 26 3 patients admitted to our hospital from 1987 to 1995 with their first attack of this disease. Etiology was biliary in 105 (40%), alcoholic in 84 (32%), unknown in 54 (21%), and presumed to be other in 20 (7%) patients. Forty-two (16%) patients had necrotizing acute pancreatitis. There was no significant correlation between admission and a specific month or weekday. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation b etween the etiology or onset of symptoms and a specific weekday. In co ntrast to other gastroenterological diseases such as peptic ulcer and inflammatory bowel disease, there is no seasonal or weekly pattern for acute pancreatitis.