ArticlePloS one2021
An effect of the COVID-19 pandemic: Significantly more complicated appendicitis due to delayed presentation of patients!
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Global burden of the COVID-19 associated patient-related delay in emergency healthcare: a panel of systematic review and meta-analyses.Globalization and health · 2022Pooled it
- Interpreting Abdominal Surgical-Site Infection Trends Across the COVID-19 Shock: A Critical Narrative Review and the SSI Signal-Validity Framework.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Article
- The rate of complicated appendicitis during a nonpharmaceutical intervention in two territories with different COVID-19 incidence.BMC gastroenterology · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection and complicated appendicitis in adults in Lima, Peru: a matched case-control study.BMC surgery · 2025Article
- Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on odontogenic infections in maxillofacial surgery.Head & face medicine · 2025Article
- Perioperative severity of acute appendicitis during the confinement related to SARS COVID-19: a retrospective comparative cohort.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Article
- Article
- Navigating appendicitis care during the Covid-19 pandemic: a retrospective cohort study in China.BMC surgery · 2024Article
- Unchanged Faces of Acute Appendicitis: Exploring Presentation and Treatment Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.Cureus · 2024Article
- The Influence of COVID-19 on Patient Mobilization and Injury Attributes in the ICU: A Retrospective Analysis of a Level II Trauma Center.Trauma care (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Acute care pathway assessed through performance indicators during the COVID-19 pandemic in OECD countries (2020-2021): a scoping review.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of patients presenting with appendicitis to the emergency department.Przeglad gastroenterologiczny · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on acute appendicitis presentation, management and pathology findings in adult and paediatric populations.PloS one · 2024Article
- Treatment of acute mesenteric ischemia between 2010 and 2020 - a German nation-wide study.BMC gastroenterology · 2023Article
- Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on the Care of Pediatric Acute Appendicitis.The American surgeon · 2023Article
- Patients with appendicitis during COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective cohort study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2023Article
- Complicated appendicitis, acute pancreatitis, pleural effusion, and sinus bradycardia in a COVID-19 patient.Clinical case reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aims of the studyThe novel coronavirus pandemic has affected emergency department consultations for surgical pathologies. The aim of our study was to compare the number of acute appendicitis cases and the proportion of complicated appendicitis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsWe retrospectively analyzed all data collected from a multi-center database of patients presenting to the emergency department for acute appendicitis during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 12 to June 6, 2020, and compared these data with those from the same periods in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The number of acute appendicitis cases, proportion of complicated appendicitis, and pre- and postoperative patient characteristics were evaluated.
resultsA total of 306 patients were included in this evaluation. Sixty-five patients presented during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (group A), and 241 patients in previous years (group B: 2017-2019). The number of consultations for acute appendicitis decreased by almost 20 percent during the pandemic compared with previous periods, with a significant increase in complicated appendicitis (52% in group A versus 20% in group B, p < 0,001.). Comparing the two groups, significant differences were also noted in the duration of symptoms (symptoms > 48h in 61% and 26%, p < 0,001), the intervention time (77 vs 61 minutes, p = 0,002), length of hospital stay (hospitalization of > 2 days in 63% and 32%, p < 0.001) and duration of antibiotic treatment (antibiotics > 3 days in 36% and 24% p = 0.001).
conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decreased number of consultations for acute appendicitis, with a higher proportion of complicated appendicitis, most likely due to patient delay in consulting the emergency department at symptom onset. Patients and general practitioners should be aware of this problem to avoid a time delay from initial symptoms to consultation.
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