Prior studies have explored that patients with SH tend to have a poor prognosis. However, the evidence in acute pancreatitis is still insufficient. Only Yang et al. reported that SH was independ-ently associated with persistent organ failure, acute necrotic collection, infections, and mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis20. However, whether SH affects long-term prognosis remains unclear.
In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that SH is an independent risk factor for diabetes after acute pancreatitis. Several studies have linked SH and subsequent diabetes in pneumonia, acute myocardial infarction, and critical illness 21–23. A large cohort study from the United States found that SH was significantly associated with a subsequent diabetes advantage ratio of 2.56 (95% CI 2.15–3.06) in 10,499 acute myocardial infarction patients without known diabetes21. Recently, Xiansong Wang and colleagues found that bacteremic patients with SH had a higher risk of subsequent diabetes development (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2–2.4) compared with their normoglycemic counterparts. In nonbacteremic, stress hyperglycemia was similarly associated with a risk of subsequent diabetes (HR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2–1.7). Stress hyperglycemia was confirmed to be a diabetes predictor24.
Post-acute pancreatitis diabetes is a specific type of diabetes and is the main component of exocrine pancreatic diabetes 25. Compared with type 2 diabetes, post-pancreatic diabetes is associated with poorer glycaemic control and a higher risk of mortality26, 27, which carries a heavy burden on human health and the economy. However, until recently, the pathogenesis of diabetes after acute pancreatitis was still unclear. Previous studies have suggested that diabetes secondary to acute pancreatitis stems from the destruction of β-cells and that severe acute pancreatitis and acute necrotizing pancreatitis increase the risk of diabetes28. Growing evidence compels us to reconsider the destruction of β-cells as the sole mechanism of secondary diabetes. Several studies revealed that the disease severity of AP had no relationship with new-onset diabetes11, 12, 29, which is similar to our study. In this observational study of nearly 1500 patients hospitalized with the first episode of AP, we found that SH was confirmed to be a predictor of diabetes mellitus independent of age, gender, comorbidity, severity of disease, serological markers, and recurrence of pancreatitis. In addition, our study found that several characteristics, including NAFLD and recurrent pancreatitis all increased the risk of diabetes in AP.
SH is a fundamental adaptive response of the body to a threat, which develops as a result of a highly complex interaction of endogenous glucocorticoids and inflammation 30–32. This disturbance in the internal environment eventually leads to hepatic glucose overproduction and insulin resistance. In addition, hyperglycemia exacerbates cytokine, inflammatory, and oxidative stress responses, creating a vicious cycle33. Furthermore, the cytokine storm may further exacerbate islet cell damage. Previous studies have discovered that IL6 is not only the predominant cytokine-inducible upon acute stress, but also a pro-inflammatory cytokine increased in obesity34. Increased concentrations of circulating interleukin 6 are associated with hyperglycemia and insulin resistance following acute pancreatitis35, 36. Moreover, abnormal lipid metabolism is another key feature of insulin resistance, especially in patients with fatty liver disease37. Patients with fatty liver are characterized by chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation and abnormal liver fat deposition, which is causally related to IR38–40.This result is consistent with our finding that NAFLD is a risk factor for acute pancreatitis secondary to diabetes mellitus.
In addition, acute pancreatitis generates a robust local and systemic inflammatory response (even in clinically mild episodes), which can produce a continuous irritation of the pancreas. This chronic inflammation can lead to insulin resistance on the one hand and damage to pancreatic tissue on the other hand41.
Overall, the development of diabetes secondary to acute pancreatitis may be a combination of factors (including loss of islet cell mass; abnormalities in lipid metabolism; local and systemic inflammatory responses; and alterations in the insulin-enteric proinsulin axis) 35, 36, 42–44, which involves a cross-talk between fat, pancreas, liver, and peripheral target tissues.
Recurrence of acute pancreatitis is another vital factor in determining the consequences of late acute pancreatitis. Prevention of recurrent episodes of acute pancreatitis is usually considered to depend on the etiologic treatment of the disease, early therapeutic intervention can prevent the development of the disease45. Our study demonstrated that SH is not associated with the recurrence of pancreatitis. However, recurrent episodes of pancreatitis increase the risk of post-pancreatitis diabetes.
The sequence of events in which acute pancreatitis progresses to chronic pancreatitis is not fully understood. Based on the analysis of our study, chronicity of pancreatitis was also not associated with SH. Nevertheless, in our study, the incidence of CP was much higher in patients who survived AP recurrence than in those with only one AP episode, which is consistent with previous studies46, 47.
Some limitations are present in the study. Firstly, based on a retrospective study, clinical outcomes were obtained by telephone follow-up, with the potential for recall bias. Secondly, blood glucose on the first day of admission was utilized as the sole criterion for classifying stress hyperglycemia, missing those patients with delayed hyperglycemia. Thirdly, loss to follow-up bias may cause a potential bias. We compared the baseline data of patients lost to follow-up and those included and found the distribution of age, gender, BMI, smoking status, drinking status, and combined hypertension was similar among the patients lost to follow-up and those visited. In addition, the total number of AP cases in the studied cohort is limited, reducing the power of our analysis. These weaknesses may have limited the generalizability of the results. Our findings are exploratory, and further large-scale prospective population-based studies are needed to confirm the long-term prognostic impact of stress hyperglycemia on patients with AP in the future.
In conclusion, Stress hyperglycemia was independently associated with diabetes secondary to acute pancreatitis. Accordingly, a follow-up diabetes-screening programs for AP with stress hyperglycemia is an important part of identifying the disease as soon as possible, delaying islet damage, avoiding adverse outcomes and improving the prognosis of post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus.