Introduction: The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on patterns of aetiology of acute pancreatitis (AP) and management of AP in the UK is unknown.
Purpose: To understand the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on aetiology and management of patients presenting with AP, particularly those with gallstone pancreatitis (GSP), in a cohort of patients who did not have SARS-CoV-2 infection
Materials and methods: A prospective multicentre cohort study of consecutive patients admitted with AP between 01/03/2020 and 23/07/2020 was undertaken. Patients were followed up for 12 months.
Results: 1628 patients presenting with AP were included in the analysis. Gallstones (GSP) were the predominant aetiology (43.6%), followed by alcohol associated (25.8) and idiopathic (21.5%) AP. After completing aetiological investigations, 14.4% of the idiopathic cohort remained to have an idiopathic aetiology. 113/187 patients were readmitted during the Сsecond waveТ of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (after September 2020) with predominantly alcohol-related AP aetiology (49, 43.3%). Patients readmitted during the Сsecond waveТ, more commonly had alcoholic AP compared to the index cohort (43.4% vs 23.5% respectively; p<0.001); however, there were no significant differences in AP severity (p=0.268).
Conclusions: The patterns of aetiology for AP changed during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with an increase in alcohol associated AP. Most significantly, access to cholecystectomy was restricted during the pandemic and readmission to hospital may have been driven by the need for cholecystectomy.