To evaluate the effect of sex hormones on the inflammatory level and prognosis in patients with acute pancreatitis.

From September 2014 to December 2016, a total of 105 patients with acute pancreatitis were selected from departments of emergency, digestive medicine, general surgery and intensive medicine in the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, who were divided into the mild group (57 cases) and the severe group (48 cases). Their general information and expressions of sex hormones including estradiol, progesterone and testosterone were compared between the two groups, and their relationship with hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and procalcitonin was analyzed.

These two groups were significantly different in acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE)Ⅱ scores, sofa scores, hs-CRP and procalcitonin expressions (t=4.408, 9.607, 5.478, 3.214; all P < 0.05). However, the expressions of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone in these two groups showed no significant difference (U=56.000, 105.500, 70.000; P=0.452, 0.228, 0.104). According to survival conditions, patients in the severe group were divided into the survival group (36 cases) and the death group (12 cases). The results showed that the estradiol expression was higher in the survival group than in the death group (U=5.000, P=0.022), but the expressions of progesterone and testosterone between the two groups showed no significant difference (U=10.000, 7.000; P=0.909, 0.425). Spearman correlation analysis showed that there was no correlation between estradiol, progesterone and testosterone expressions and hs-CRP (r=-0.208, 0.065, 0.029; P=0.352, 0.775, 0.897), and no correlation between estradiol, progesterone and testosterone expressions and procalcitonin (r=-0.197, -0.016, 0.113; P=0.621, 0.942, 0.618) in the mild group. There was a positive correlation between the estradiol expression and hs-CRP (r=0.709, P=0.022), and no significant correlation between the estradiol expression and procalcitonin (r=0.389, P=0.216) in the severe group. There was also no significant correlation between progesterone and testosterone expressions and hs-CRP (r=-0.224, 0.199; P=0.228, 0.582), and no correlation between progesterone and testosterone expressions and procalcitonin(r=0.369, -0.165; P=0.777, 0.649) in the severe group.

The expression of estradiol is correlated with the inflammatory level in patients with severe acute pancreatitis and could be used as a prognostic index for severe acute pancreatitis.