COVID-19 and acute pancreatitis: examining the causality

Enrique de-Madaria; Gabriele Capurso

doi:10.1038/s41575-020-00389-y

COVID-19 and acute pancreatitis: examining the causality

Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021 Jan;18(1):3-4. doi: 10.1038/s41575-020-00389-y.

Authors

Enrique de-Madaria^{1

2}, Gabriele Capurso³

Affiliations

¹ Gastroenterology Department, Alicante University General Hospital, ISABIAL, Alicante, Spain. emadaria@umh.es.
² Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Miguel Hernández University, Elche, Spain. emadaria@umh.es.
³ Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational & Clinical Research Center, San Raffaele Scientific Institute IRCCS, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

Case reports and retrospective cohort studies have reported an association between acute pancreatitis and COVID-19. As SARS-CoV-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19) receptors are expressed in the pancreas and endothelial damage can occur, this association is plausible. However, this hypothesis has many biases and needs further investigation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / epidemiology*
Comorbidity
Global Health
Humans
Incidence
Pancreatitis / epidemiology*
Pandemics*
SARS-CoV-2*