Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39589944›Full record

ArticleDiseases (Basel, Switzerland)2024

Changes in the Presentation and Severity of Acute Appendicitis: A Comparison of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Eras.

Mohammed Bu Bshait, Ahmed Kamal, Abdullah Almaqhawi, Ahmad Al Abdulqader, Haytham Alarfaj, Mohammed Albarqi, Nawaf Al Khashram, Nora AlMssallem, Fatimah Aljalal, Sara Aljaafari and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Diseases (Basel, Switzerland), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

13 authors.

Mohammed Bu BshaitDepartments of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0003-4441-171X
Ahmed KamalDepartments of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0002-6031-8948
Abdullah AlmaqhawiDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0001-6035-1230
Ahmad Al AbdulqaderDepartments of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0001-7515-5662
Haytham AlarfajDepartments of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed AlbarqiDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0001-8510-8659
Nawaf Al KhashramDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0009-0000-6587-3126
Nora AlMssallemCollege of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0009-0004-7728-8433
Fatimah AljalalCollege of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0009-0001-2837-179X
Sara AljaafariCollege of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0009-0001-6688-7738
Abtesam AlnaimCollege of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0009-0005-1870-4510
Sharifah AlzabdawiCollege of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0009-0006-1493-8739
Ahmad OdehDepartment of Surgery, Prince Saud Bin Jalawi Hospital, Alahsa 36377, Saudi Arabia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with people's avoidance of hospital exposure, led to a reduction in medical consultations and delays in care seeking. Numerous reports have shown a decrease in the number of appendectomies performed and an increased incidence of complicated appendicitis during the pandemic. We aimed to investigate these findings during and after the cessation of COVID-19-related restrictions.

methodsThis retrospective cohort study was conducted in a single centre, including consecutive adult patients who underwent appendectomy for acute appendicitis during three different periods: the pandemic cohort (7 March-30 June 2020), the post-pandemic cohort (7 March-30 June 2022) and the pre-pandemic control cohort (7 March-30 June 2019). A total of 103 patients were included and divided into the three cohorts. The patients' demographics, clinical presentation, investigations, and operative data were compared.

resultsThe three groups did not differ significantly regarding demographics, clinical characteristics, or the number of appendectomies. However, a duration of symptoms at presentation of less than 2 days was significantly more frequent in the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic groups than the pandemic group (

conclusionsThe termination of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions promoted the earlier presentation of acute appendicitis cases and lowered the incidence of complicated appendicitis. This emphasises the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on acute appendicitis.

Indexed as

acute appendicitiscomplicated appendicitisCOVID-19pandemicpost-pandemic

Identifiers

PMID39589944
PMCPMC11592918

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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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 Socratic graph.