ArticleLangenbeck's archives of surgery2021
Influence of COVID-19 confinement measures on appendectomies in Germany-a claims data analysis of 9797 patients.
Article in Langenbeck's archives of surgery, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Swedish national guidelines for diagnosis and management of acute appendicitis in adults and children.BJS open · 2025Guideline
- Spontaneous Resolution of Uncomplicated Appendicitis may Explain Increase in Proportion of Complicated Appendicitis During Covid-19 Pandemic: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.World journal of surgery · 2023Pooled it
- Nonoperative vs Operative Management of Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA surgery · 2022Pooled it
- Adaptation of emergency surgical care during successive COVID-19 waves: a single-center analysis of surgically treated acute appendicitis.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- COVID-19-specific risk factor for early post-appendectomy complications (EPAC) in older patients: a retrospective study.Techniques in coloproctology · 2025Observational
- Stumped by a Case of Appendicitis After Appendectomy.Ochsner journal · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on acute appendicitis presentation, management and pathology findings in adult and paediatric populations.PloS one · 2024Article
- The Course and Surgical Treatment of Acute Appendicitis during the First and Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Analysis in University Affiliated Hospital in Latvia.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Moving to Medical Treatment for COVID-19 Influence on Pediatric Appendicitis: A Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2022Review
- Access to Surgery and Quality of Care for Acute Cholecystitis During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021 - an Analysis of 12,545 Patients from a German-Wide Hospital Network.Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract · 2022Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delays in surgical procedures in Germany: a multi-center analysis of an administrative registry of 176,783 patients.Patient safety in surgery · 2022Article
- Changes in hospital admissions and complications of acute appendicitis during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health sciences review (Oxford, England) · 2022Review
- [Impact on the incidence of gastrointestinal perforation during the COVID-19 pandemic in theRevista de gastroenterologia de Mexico · 2022Article
- Multicenter cohort study on the presentation and treatment of acute appendicitis during the COVID-19 pandemic.International journal of colorectal disease · 2022Article
- Mis-Dis Information in COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Acute appendicitis during the COVID-19 pandemic-changes in incidence and clinical presentation but not in patients' outcome.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2022Article
- Incidence of Complicated Appendicitis during the COVID-19 Pandemic versus the Pre-Pandemic Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 2782 Pediatric Appendectomies.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Appendectomy during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: a multicenter ambispective cohort study by the Italian Society of Endoscopic Surgery and new technologies (the CRAC study).Updates in surgery · 2021Observational
- The decrease of non-complicated acute appendicitis and the negative appendectomy rate during pandemic.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2021Article
- [Impact of COVID-19 on elective and emergency colorectal surgery].Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift fur alle Gebiete der operativen Medizen · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeCOVID-19 pandemic had multiple influences on the social, industrial, and medical situation in all affected countries. Measures of obligatory medical confinement were suspensions of scheduled non-emergent surgical procedures and outpatients' clinics as well as overall access restrictions to hospitals and medical practices. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess if the obligatory confinement (lockdown) had an effect on the number of appendectomies (during and after the period of lockdown).
methodsThis retrospective study was based on anonymized nationwide administrative claims data of the German Local General Sickness Fund (AOK). Patients admitted for diseases of the appendix (ICD-10: K35-K38) or abdominal and pelvic pain (ICD-10: R10) who underwent an appendectomy (OPS: 5-470) were included. The study period included 6 weeks of German lockdown (16 March-26 April 2020) as well as 6 weeks before (03 February-15 March 2020) and after (27 April-07 June 2020). These periods were compared to the respective one in 2018 and 2019.
resultsThe overall number of appendectomies was significantly reduced during the lockdown time in 2020 compared to that in 2018 and 2019. This decrease affects only appendectomies due to acute simple (ICD-10: K35.30, K35.8) and non-acute appendicitis (ICD-10: K36-K38, R10). Numbers for appendectomies in acute complex appendicitis remained unchanged. Female patients and in the age group 1-18 years showed the strongest decrease in number of cases.
conclusionThe lockdown in Germany resulted in a decreased number of appendectomies. This affected mainly appendectomies in simple acute and non-acute appendicitis, but not complicated acute appendicitis. The study gives no evidence that the confinement measures resulted in a deterioration of medical care for appendicitis.
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