Appendicitis admissions declining during COVID-19 pandemic

Last Updated: 2020-06-02

By Reuters Staff

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The number of admissions for acute appendicitis has declined significantly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers in Israel report.

Several reports have documented decreases in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute coronary syndrome and stroke since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. James Tankel of Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, The Hebrew University School of Medicine, in Jerusalem, and colleagues noticed the number of patients with acute appendicitis presenting to their institutions declined as the number of COVID-19 cases increased.

In the seven weeks before the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Israel, 237 patients with acute appendicitis were admitted via the ED; in the seven subsequent weeks, 141 patients with acute appendicitis were admitted, the team reports in World Journal of Surgery.

The number of cases of acute appendicitis declined by 1.9 cases per week during the first seven weeks and by 4.5 cases per week during the second seven weeks (P=0.02).

During the equivalent period one year earlier, the number of cases decreased during the first seven-week period but increased during the second seven-week period.

The groups admitted before and after the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak did not differ significantly in age, sex, length of symptoms prior to ED attendance, or severity of appendicitis.

The authors speculate that the decrease could be due successful resolution of mild appendicitis at home.

"Further research is needed to corroborate this assumption and identify those patients who may benefit from this treatment pathway, especially in challenging times when healthcare resources are so desperately strained," they conclude.

Dr. Tankel did not respond to a request for comments.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2XlE1s7 World Journal of Surgery, online May 26, 2020.