Sitagliptin use and risk of acute pancreatitis in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A population-based case-control study in Taiwan

• Many risk factors of acute pancreatitis have been well established.
• Only few cases of acute pancreatitis were reported to be possibly related to sitagliptin use.
• No significant association is detected between sitagliptin use and acute pancreatitis.

BackgroundThere is still lack of definite evidence to establish the association between sitagliptin use and acute pancreatitis. The study aimed to test this issue in Taiwan.MethodsThis case-control study was designed to analyze the database of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program. There were 349 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged 20–84 with a first-attack of acute pancreatitis from 2009 to 2011 as the case group and 1116 randomly selected subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus without acute pancreatitis as the control group. Both groups were matched with sex, age, comorbidities, and index year of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Current use of sitagliptin was defined as subjects who had their last tablet of sitagliptin ≤ 7 days before the date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Late use of sitagliptin was defined as subjects who had their last tablet of sitagliptin between 8 and 30 days before the date of diagnosing acute pancreatitis. Never use of sitagliptin was defined as subjects who never had a sitagliptin prescription. The risk of acute pancreatitis associated with sitagliptin use was estimated by the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using the multivariable logistic regression model.ResultsAfter statistical correction for potential confounders, the adjusted OR of acute pancreatitis was 2.47 for subjects with current use of sitagliptin (95% CI 0.84, 7.28), when compared with those never using sitagliptin, but without statistical significance. The adjusted OR decreased to 1.14 for subjects with late use of sitagliptin (95% CI 0.66, 1.98), but without statistical significance.ConclusionsNo significant association is detected between sitagliptin use and acute pancreatitis in type 2 diabetes mellitus.