[The epidemiological considerations in acute pancreatitis. A comparison between 2 series].

Epidemiological data from two series of patients in whom acute pancreatitis (AP) was diagnosed, with a chronological difference of four years between them, were compared. A total of 142 events of AP were analyzed from 128 clinical records. The mean age of incidence was significantly higher among the most recent series (61.04 +/- 17.83 years vs 51.66 +/- 14.06 years), and no differences were observed with regard to distribution by sex. The most frequent etiology in both series was biliary lithiasis, followed by ethylism, both of them clearly associated with female and male sex, respectively. In the AP of alcoholic etiology, the mean age at onset was smaller than in the other etiological groups and this observation was more evident in the second series. Finally, mortality was significantly reduced in the most recent series (12.3% for the first series vs 5.7% for the second series).