Artikel
Prevalence and determinants of increased serum lipase levels in a general population
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Veröffentlicht: | 6. September 2007 |
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Gliederung
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Background: Currently, there is little information on the prevalence of increased serum lipase levels and its determinants from large-scale population-based studies. The present study was performed to overcome this limitation.
Methods: We used data of the population-based 4275 subjects (2094 men, 2181 women) who were recruited for the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Serum lipase levels were determined colorimetrically, levels of ≥3.17 µmol/sl were considered increased. Cholelithiasis was determined by ultrasound. The adjusted prevalence of increased serum lipase levels was calculated by using sex- and age group-specific weighting factors reflecting the sex- and age distribution of the total population of Western Pomerania.
Results: The prevalence of increased serum lipase levels was 3.4%. Subjects with and without increased serum lipase levels did not differ with respect to complaints indicative for prevalent pancreatitis. Older subjects had more often increased serum lipase levels than younger subjects. Besides age, increased serum creatinine levels were an important determinant of the endpoint. Sonographical evidence for gallstones was not and alcohol use >20g/d inversely related to increased serum lipase levels, whereby the latter result was not stable over sensitivity analyses.
Conclusions: We conclude that increased serum lipase levels are not related to symptoms indicative for chronic pancreatitis. Renal insufficiency and prevalent pancreatitis only partly explain increased serum lipase levels. The predictive role of this laboratory finding with respect to future pancreatitic and extrapancreatic tumors remains to be investigated.