Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of alcoholic severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Methods Clinical data of 166 cases of SAP in Fujian Provincial Hospital from January 2001 to December 2008 were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Cases were divided into alcoholic SAP group (43cases) and control group ( 123 cases) depending on deoholic intake volue whithin 12～48 hours. Age, gender,CT scores, APACHE Ⅱ score, serum glucose, serum triglyceride (TG), serum calcium, serum albumin,morbidity, later infection rate and mortality rate of the two groups were compared. Results There was no significant difference in terms of age, but the proportion of male in alcoholic SAP group (39/43) was higher than that in control group (58/123, P<0.01 ). CT score, serum glucose and calcium were not significantly different between the two groups. The APACHEⅡ score and serum TG in alcoholic SAP group [19.16±5.38,(5.06±4.03)mmol/L] were significantly higher than those in control group [16.02±5.09, (3.12±2.95)mmol/L]. The albumenjolevel in alcoholic SAP group (25.23±7.12)g/L) was lower than that in control group [(30.68±8.35 ) g/L, P<0.01]. The incidences of ARDS and upper gastroenterologic bleeding were not significantly different between the two groups. But the incidences of acute kidney failure (44.2%), liver failure (41.9%), heart failure (37.2%), shock (39.5%), infection (27.9%) and mortality (30.2%) in alcoholic SAP were significantly higher than those in control group (26.0%,30.9%, 20.3%, 16.3%,16.3%, 7.3%, P<0.05 or<0.01). Conclusions Males predominates alcoholic SAP patients with high mortality and morbidity. Alcohol abstinence is effective to prevent alcoholic SAP ocurrence.