Seasonal variation of acute appendicitis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24265/horizmed.2016.v16n2.04

Keywords:

Appendicitis, Appendectomy, Seasonal, Summer

Abstract

Objective: To know if there was an increase in acute appendicitis cases treated in summer and spring among 2005-2014 in Grau Emergency Hospital in Lima. Material and Methods: Observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study. Non-probabilistic sampling, sample size of 6,917 operated on for acute appendicitis during 2005-2014 in the Grau Emergency Hospital in Lima. We used a form for data collection from medical records to develop a database. Analysis of variance test was applied to appendectomies numbers and correlation between temperature and number of appendicitis. Results: The minimum and maximum age was 14 and 93 years old. 52.6% (3,639) of the cases were female. January was the highest monthly number of appendectomies, with 648; 634 in March and 616 in February. The analysis of variance obtained a p value = 0.24, there was no significant difference among the seasons of the year. There was a partial correlation between monthly temperature and number of appendectomies. Conclusions: There is a seasonal pattern with increase in the frequency of acute appendicitis during summer and spring, and a decline in autumn and winter. The increase in cases of acute appendicitis is 3.32% and 3.75% in summer compared to autumn and winter, with no significant statistical difference among the four seasons of the year.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Brunicardi FC, Andersen DK, Billiar TR, et al, eds. The appendix. In: Schwartz's principles of surgery. 9th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2012:2043-2067.

Itskowitz MS, Jones SM. Appendicitis. Emerg Med. 2004; 36:10-1.

Koepsell TD. In search of the cause of appendicitis. Epidemiology. 1991; 2:319-321.

Olakolu S, Lloyd C, Day G, Wellington P. Diagnosis Of Acute Appendicitis At Mandeville Regional Hospital (MRH): Clinical Judgment Versus Alvarado Score. The Internet Journal of Surgery. 2010 :27: 1.

Andersson N, Griffiths H, Murphy J, Roll J, Serenyi A, Swann I, et al. Is appendicitis familial? Br Med J 1979; 2: 697-8.

Adamidis D, Roma-Giannikou E, Karamolegou K, et al. Fiber intake and childhood appendicitis. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2000; 51:153-157.

Pieper R, Kager L, Weintraub A, Lindberg AA, Nord CE. The role of Bacteroides fragilis in the pathogenesis of acute appendicitis. Acta Chir Scand 1982; 148: 39-44.

Rai R. An Evaluation of the Seasonal Variation in Acute Appendicitis. J Evol Med Dent Sci. 2014;3(2):257–60.

Noudeh Y, Sadigh N, Ahmadnia A. Epidemiologic features, seasonal variations and false positive rate of acute appendicitis in Shahr-e-Rey, Tehran. Int J Surg 2007, 5(2):95-98.

Al-Omran M, Mamdani M, MacLeod R. Epidemiologic features of acute appendicitis in Ontario, Canada. Can J Surg 2003;46(4):263-268.

Lin KB. Epidemiology of appendicitis and appendectomy for the low-income population in Taiwan, 2003–2011. BMC Gastroenterology 2015;15:18.

Khan M, Naz S, Zarin M, Rooh-ul-Muqim, Salman M. Epidemiological observations on appendicitis in Peshawar, Pakistan. Pak J Surg 2012; 28(1):30-33.

Ilves I. Seasonal variations of acute appendicitis and nonspecific abdominal pain in Finland. World J Gastroenterol 2014;20(14):4037-4042.

Gallerani M, Boari B, Anania G, Cavallesco G, Manfredini R. Seasonal variation in onset of acute appendicitis. Clin Ter 2006;157(2):123-127.

Wei PL, Chen CS, Keller JJ, Lin HC. Monthly variation in acute appendicitis incidence: A 10-year nationwide populationbased study. J Surg Res 2012;178(2):670-676.

Pepper VK. Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric appendicitis, intussusception, and Meckel diverticulum. Surg Clin N Am 2012;92:505-526.

Jangra B, Jangra MS, Rattan K N, Kadian YS. Seasonal and day of week variations in acute appendicitis in north Indian children. J Indian Assoc Pediatr Surg 2013;18:42-3.

Oguntola AS, Adeoti ML, Oyemolade TA. Appendicitis: Trends in incidence, age, sex, and seasonal variations in SouthWestern Nigeria. Ann Afr Med 2010;9(4):213-7.

Sulu B, Günerhan, Palanci Y, Işler B, Çağlayan K. Epidemiological and demographic features of appendicitis and influences of several environmental factors. Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg 2010;16(1):38-42.

Tejada-Llacsa P, Melgarejo-García G. Incidencia de apendicitis aguda y su relación con factores ambientales, Perú, 2013. An Fac med. 2015;76(3):253.

Fares, A. Summer appendicitis. Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research 2014;4(1):18-21.

Gul T, Khan M, Sahar S, Kamran W, Andaleeb U. Epidemiological and demographic features of appendicitis and influences of several environmental factors. Pak J Surg 2014; 30(3):245-247

Wolkomir A, Kornak P, Elsakr M, McGovern P. Seasonal variation of acute appendicitis: a 56-year study. South Med J 1987;80(8):958-60.

Published

2016-06-04

How to Cite

1.
Mendoza-Rojas HJ, Valle-Bayona JJ. Seasonal variation of acute appendicitis. Horiz Med [Internet]. 2016Jun.4 [cited 2025Jul.10];16(2):19-26. Available from: https://www.horizontemedico.usmp.edu.pe/index.php/horizontemed/article/view/403

Issue

Section

Original article

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.