Alcohol abuse blamed for upsurge in pancreatitis

ALCOHOL is partly to blame for rising rates of acute pancreatitis a new study has found.

The incidence of inflammation of the pancreas has doubled over the past 30 years, particularly among younger age groups, the authors of the report claim.

Public health professor Michael J Goldacre and university research lecturer, Stephen E Roberts, who compiled the English national study, suggested the rise in pancreatitis “is probably, in particular, a rise in alcoholic pancreatitis related to increasing use of alcohol in the community”.