Objective To assess the predictive effect of myocardial injury biomarkers (proBNP, CK-MB, and cTnI) on the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods The records of 246 patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis who were treated at Ruijin Hospital Emergency Department from January 2015 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the revised 2012 Atlanta guidelines, these patients were divided into the mild acute pancreatitis (MAP, n=47), moderately severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP, n=151) and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP, n=48) groups. The highest plasma levels of troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase (CK)-MB, N-terminal B-type brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), C-reactive protein (CRP), and procalcitonin (PCT) were recorded for comparison within 72 h after admission. The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ ) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), bedside index for severity in acute pancreatitis (BISAP) and Balthazar computed tomography severity index (CTSI) were calculated at admission within 72 h. Whether there is an occurrence of organ dysfunction, and the organ types and persist time of organ dysfunction were recorded. The analysis of variance, SNK-q test and paired samples t test were used for the statistical analysis. Results The levels of proBNP, CK-MB, and cTnI were significantly higher in the SAP group than in the non-SAP group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve demonstrated cTnI had the maximum predictive power (AUC=0.872), while proBNP had the least predictive ability (AUC=0.763). The established model, which is to explore whether the myocardial injury markers had the predictive value, showed that the combination of myocardial injury indicators (CK-MB, cTnI) and traditional indicators had higher predictive value for SAP than traditional indicators alone (AUC=0.966 vs. AUC=0.945, P=0.04). Conclusions The elevated markers of myocardial injury had certain predictive value for severe acute pancreatitis.