Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35462960›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open2022

Pediatric appendicitis in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective chart review.

Arianna M Nassiri, Roy D Pruden, Cole A Holan, Angela D Guerra, Peris W Nganga, Matthew H Wilkinson, Karla A Lawson, Coburn H Allen, Victoria S Gregg, Jessica A Naiditch

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
3.3field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Observational
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Pediatric appendicitis in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective chart review.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Arianna M NassiriDepartment of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Dell Children's Medical Center Austin Texas USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3215-4656
Roy D PrudenDepartment of Pediatrics Dell Children's Medical Center Austin Texas USA.
Cole A HolanUniversity of Texas Dell Medical School Austin Texas USA.
Angela D GuerraUniversity of Texas Dell Medical School Austin Texas USA.
Peris W NgangaDepartment of Pediatrics Dell Children's Medical Center Austin Texas USA.
Matthew H WilkinsonDepartment of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Dell Children's Medical Center Austin Texas USA.
Karla A LawsonDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care Division of Pediatric Surgery Dell Children's Medical Center University of Texas Austin Texas USA.
Coburn H AllenDepartment of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Dell Children's Medical Center Austin Texas USA.
Victoria S GreggDepartment of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Dell Children's Medical Center Austin Texas USA.
Jessica A NaiditchDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care Division of Pediatric Surgery Dell Children's Medical Center University of Texas Austin Texas USA.
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas · USThe University of Texas at Austin · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Aim: Conduct a time trend analysis that describes 2 groups of patients admitted to a large tertiary children's hospital that presented with appendicitis and determine if there was an increase in complicated appendicitis when compared between 2 time periods before and during the early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all children presenting to a single-center site with appendicitis between March 23 and August 31, 2020, in the Central Texas region. We compared 507 patients presenting with appendicitis from the non-COVID-19 era in 2019 with n = 249 to patients presenting during the COVID time period with n = 258. All patients with appendicitis within those time periods were reviewed with analysis of various characteristics in regard to presentation, diagnosis of uncomplicated versus complicated appendicitis, and management outcomes. Results: There were no significant demographic differences or change in the number of appendicitis cases noted between the 2 time periods of comparison. There was no significant difference in rates of complicated appendicitis or presentation time following symptom onset between the 2 eras. There was no significant difference in intraoperative or postoperative complications. There was a statistically significant increase in the use of computed tomography (CT) scans ( Conclusion: Our study is the largest to date examining appendicitis complications in the era of COVID. In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found no delay in presentation in children presenting to the emergency department and no increase in complicated appendicitis. We did identify an increase in the use of CT scans for definitive diagnosis of appendicitis noted in the pandemic era. Although COVID-19 status was not studied, the finding of increased CT use for a definitive diagnosis of appendicitis was a distinctive finding of this study showing a change in practice in pediatric emergency medicine.

Indexed as

appendicitiscomplicated appendicitisCOVID‐19CT scanpandemicpediatric emergency medicinepediatrics

Identifiers

PMID35462960
PMCPMC9019144
OpenAlexW4224246891

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.