Background and aim Acute pancreatitis (AP) is associated with organ failures and systemic complications, most commonly acute respiratory failure (ARF) and acute kidney injury. So far, no studies have analysed the predictors and hospitalisation outcomes, of patients with AP who developed ARF. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of ARF in AP and to determine the clinical predictors for ARF and mortality in AP.

Methods This is a retrospective cohort study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from the year 2005–2014. The study population consisted of all hospitalisations with a primary or secondary discharge diagnosis of AP, which is further stratified based on the presence of ARF. The outcome measures include in-hospital mortality, hospital length of stay and hospitalisation cost.

Results In our study, about 5.4% of patients with AP had a codiagnosis of ARF, with a mortality rate of 26.5%. The significant predictors for ARF include sepsis, pleural effusion, pneumonia and cardiogenic shock. Key variables that were associated with a higher risk of mortality include mechanical ventilation, age more than 65 years, sepsis and cancer (excluding pancreatic cancer). The presence of ARF increased hospital stay by 8.3 days and hospitalisation charges by US$103 460.

Conclusion In this study, we demonstrate that ARF is a significant risk factor for increased hospital mortality, greater length of stay and higher hospitalisation charges in patients with AP. This underlines significantly higher resource utilisation in patients with a dual diagnosis of AP-ARF.