Type of pain, pain-associated complications, quality of life, disability and resource utilisation in chronic pancreatitis: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: To compare patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) with constant pain patterns to patients with CP with intermittent pain patterns.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study conducted at 20 tertiary medical centers in the USA comprising 540 subjects with CP. Patients with CP were asked to identify their pain from five pain patterns (A-E) defined by the temporal nature (intermittent or constant) and the severity of the pain (mild, moderate or severe).