COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ACUTE PANCREATITIS IN DIFFERENT ETHNIC POPULATIONS IN A MALAYSIAN PUBLIC HOSPITAL

Malaysia is a country consisting of people of Malay, Chinese and Indian ethnic origin and also of some Indonesian and Thai population. In this study of acute pancreatitis, the age group, sex incidence, clinical features, complications and treatment were compared between different ethnic groups. A total of fifty- four consecutive patients admitted in Sungai Petani Hospital, Kedah, Malaysia with acute pancreatitis from 2002 to 2004 were taken for this study. There were 29 males and 25 females. The 40–60 years age group was more commonly involved. The common factors associated with acute pancreatitis were alcohol intake in males and biliary disease in females. Two females suffered from acute pancreatitis following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). One of the 54 cases died due to multi-organ failure.