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Different pain patterns in chronic pancreatitis (CP) are thought to reflect distinct underlying disease entities, but evidence supporting this belief is lacking. In this prospective cohort study, researchers used data from a Dutch national registry to classify 1131 Dutch patients with CP as having continuous, intermittent, or no pain. CP was defined as a compatible clinical history plus either imaging findings, exocrine insufficiency, or histologic confirmation. Pain characteristics were assessed annually to identify predictors of changes in pain pattern over time.
Half of patients had continuous pain at enrollment, 20% reported intermittent pain, and 30% reported no pain. Alcohol was the cause of CP in about half of patients in all groups; …