Impact of COVID-19 on morbidity, management, and course of acute appendicitis – a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> Acute appendicitis is one of the most common causes of abdominal pain requiring surgical intervention.</br></br> <b>Aim:</b> This study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on morbidity, therapeutic management, and course of acute appendicitis.</br></br> <b>Methods:</b> This study retrospectively analyzed patients hospitalized at a general surgery department between 1 January 2019 and 19 March 2020 and compared them to patients hospitalized between 20 March 2020 (global pandemic declaration date) and 6 June 2021. Therefore, our analysis encompassed the period of 443 days preceding the pandemic and 443 days after the start thereof. Other factors evaluated herein included sex, length of hospital stay, time from symptom onset, type of surgery, laboratory test results, histopathological diagnosis, and polymerase chain reaction test results for SARS-CoV-2 infection.</br></br> <b>Results:</b> Statistical analysis was conducted using statistical software IBM SPSS version 27. Significant differences in length of hospital stay, time from symptom onset to hospital admission, number of leukocytes, and type of surgical procedure were observed between groups of patients treated before and after the pandemic.</br></br> <b>Conclusion:</b> Acute appendicitis remained one of the most commonly encountered diseases requiring surgical intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, significant differences in length of hospital stay, time from symptom onset to hospital admission, and type of surgery were observed between patients treated before and after COVID-19 had been declared a pandemic.