Long term results on the severity of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 pandemic
Author Department
Surgery
Document Type
Article, Peer-reviewed
Publication Date
3-2022
Abstract
Background: Acute appendicitis cases increased in severity following COVID-19 related restrictions in March, 2020 [1,2]. We investigated if similar changes occurred during Wave 2.
Methods: Acute appendicitis patients during Wave 1 were grouped 8 weeks before (Group A) and after (Group B) stay-at-home restrictions were initiated on March 15, 2020. Cases in Wave 2 were grouped 8 weeks before (Group C) and after (Group D) November 6, 2020. Groups were compared to equivalent time frames in 2018/2019.
Results: Group A vs B revealed 42.6% decrease (CI: - 59.4, - 25.7) in uncomplicated appendicitis, and 21.1% increase (CI: 4.8, 37.3) in perforated appendicitis. Similar patterns were noted comparing Group C vs D without statistical significance. The changes seen in Wave 1 were significantly different than in 2018/2019. This trend continued in Wave 2.
Conclusions: Similar to Wave 1, acute appendicitis cases increased in severity during wave 2 of COVID-19, but with less prominence.
Keywords: Appendicitis; COVID-19; Incidence; Pandemic; Severity.
Recommended Citation
Santone E, Izzo F, Lo K, Pérez Coulter AM, Jabbour N, Orthopoulos G. Long term results on the severity of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 pandemic. Surg Open Sci. 2022 Mar 24. doi: 10.1016/j.sopen.2022.03.005. Epub ahead of print.
PMID
35345554