Evaluating Pancreatic index in Patients with and without Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome can be considered as a combination of metabolic disorders that may led to an increased risk of some diseases such type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, myocardial infarction, and is the cause of mortality from coronary artery disease. Its prevalence is particularly high in women. There is evidence that pancreatic fat, as a key factor in non-alcoholic fatty liver and metabolic syndrome, numerates as an early indicator of abnormal fat deposition.

In this study, we enrolled 262 patients, who were admitted to Ali Ibn Abi Talib Hospital in Rafsanjan city, using the non-random-sequential method. Data collection tools were a questionnaire containing demographic characteristics (age, sex, history of diseases, etc.) and a checklist including MetS (based on NCEP/ATP III criteria and Diabetes Committee), pancreatic density (P), and spleen (S) and pancreatic index (P/S). One-way ANOVA and Post-Hoc and Chi-square tests were used for statically analyses.

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 34.8%, index of pancreas in the group without and with metabolic syndrome were 0.85 ± 0.11 and 0.74 ± 0.29 Hounsfield Units, respectively.

Compared with the group with at least one criterion and the group with the complete criteria (p = 0.013), pancreas index was higher in the group without metabolic syndrome.