Methods

This is a retrospective observational cohort study of patients 18 years or older admitted to 12 hospitals within the Northwell Health System from March 1, 2020, to June 1, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. Institutional review board approval was obtained for this study. Patients were identified as presenting with acute pancreatitis on admission if they met all 3 of the following criteria: 1) lipase level greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal, 2) cross-sectional imaging (computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging) showing pancreatitis, and 3) characteristic upper abdominal pain at admission. 6 Those with acute pancreatitis and COVID-19 were compared to a group of patients with acute pancreatitis but without COVID-19. Patient charts were manually reviewed not only to confirm the diagnosis of pancreatitis but also to determine its etiology (see the Supplementary Methods section for details). The primary outcomes of mortality, length of stay, need for mechanical ventilation, and development of pancreatic necrosis were compared between the 2 groups.

Results

During the study period, 48,012 patients were hospitalized, and 11,883 of 48,012 (24.75%) were COVID-19 positive on admission. A total of 189 of 48,012 met criteria for a diagnosis of pancreatitis (point prevalence, 0.39%), and 32 of 189 (17%) were COVID-19 positive, yielding a point prevalence of 0.27% of pancreatitis among patients hospitalized with COVID-19.