There have been only a few studies dealing with the incidence of chronic pa
ncreatitis published, Over the last 80 years, original studies describing t
he incidence of chronic pancreatitis were undertaken, including studies in
Scandinavia, Switzerland, Hungary and Poland, Incidence varied geographical
ly, from 1.6 new cases per year among 100 000 inhabitants in Switzerland to
23 new cases among 100 000 inhabitants in Finland. The aetiology of 70% of
all cases was alcoholic pancreatitis. The incidence of chronic pancreatiti
s in the Czech Republic is 7.9 per 100 000 inhabitants per year, similar to
that of Denmark and Germany, but higher than that of Poland or Switzerland
. In our study, the main aetiological factor was alcohol (65.4% of all case
s, with consumption of alcohol of > 75.0 g/day), Eur J Gastroenterol Hepato
l 13:749-750 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.