Table 2.

Presenting symptoms and comorbidities in patients with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, and results of adjusted univariable analysis of their association with initiation of PERT and clinical response

Variable	Patients with PEI, n=182, n (%)	Association with initiation of PERT, OR (95% CI)^a	Association with clinical response to PERT, OR (95% CI)^a
Presenting symptoms
Abdominal pain	91 (50.0)	1.30 (0.70–2.40)	1.01 (0.29–3.50)
Diarrhoea	126 (69.2)	0.78 (0.40–1.49)	0.79 (0.21–3.00)
Weight loss	84 (46.2)	1.60 (0.85–3.01)	6.83 (1.23–37.93)^b
Steatorrhoea	31 (17.0)	2.54 (1.06–6.09)^b	2.94 (0.57–15.23)
Bloating	37 (20.3)	1.11 (0.52–2.36)	0.47 (0.13–1.75)
Flatulence	6 (3.3)	0.30 (0.05–1.74)	0.04 (0.002–0.93)^b
Comorbidities
Chronic pancreatitis	21 (11.5)	4.13 (1.31–13.02)^b	3.06 (0.34–27.66)
Pancreatic cancer	5 (2.75)	3.97 (0.42–37.29)	n/a
Upper GI surgery	16 (8.79)	1.37 (0.47–4.04)	0.22 (0.04–1.16)
Diabetes mellitus	64 (35.2)	2.21 (1.11–4.42)^b	0.54 (0.14–2.07)
Alcohol excess
Previous	25 (18.5)	3.18 (1.04–9.71)^b	0.68 (0.11–4.34)
Current	27 (20.0)	1.47 (0.56–3.88)	4.52 (0.36–56.73)
Smoking
Previous	24 (18.3)	0.73 (0.27–2.01)	4.39 (0.19–102.25)
Current	44 (35.6)	1.43 (0.60–3.38)	1.10 (0.20–6.11)

Reference categories for alcohol excess and smoking are ‘never’.
↵^a = adjusted for age, sex and ethnicity;
↵^b = p<0.05; CI = confidence interval; GI = gastrointestinal; n/a = not applicable; OR = odds ratio; PEI = pancreatic exocrine insufficiency; PERT = pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy.