LETTER The Relationship of Body Underweight to Complication Risks in Acute Pancreatitis

Body overweight and obesity are associated with a worse outcome of a number of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and acute pancreatitis [1, 2]. Recent studies have unexpectedly demonstrated that patients with ischemic heart disease who are underweight also have an increased mortality risk when compared with their normal-weight counterparts [3, 4]. Whether a similar inverse correlation exists between low body mass index (BMI) and complication rates of acute pancreatitis, is unknown. In this letter, we therefore describe the effect of body underweight on the outcome of patients with pancreatitis of biliary origin. Patients admitted to our hospital for gallstone pancreatitis have been prospectively studied for man