TY - JOUR

T1 - Incidence of appendicitis during COVID-19 lockdown

T2 - A nationwide population-based study

AU - Jantzen, Amalie T

AU - Bang-Nielsen, Anders

AU - Bertelsen, Claus A

AU - Torp-Pedersen, Christian

AU - Kleif, Jakob

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - AIM: To investigate how a nationwide lockdown influences the incidence of appendicitis.BACKGROUND: Communitive infectious diseases may play a role in the pathogenesis of appendicitis as indicated by a seasonal variation in the incidence rate. The spread of communitive infectious diseases has decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; thus, we have an opportunity to study the incidence rate of appendicitis in an environment with less impact from common community infections.METHODS: The study is a nationwide register-based cohort study of the entire Danish population of 5.8 million. The difference in the incidence of appendicitis in a population subjugated to a controlled lockdown with social distancing (study group) was compared to a population not subjugated to a controlled lockdown and social distancing (reference group).RESULTS: The relative risk of appendicitis during the lockdown was 0.92 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.82-1.03, p = 0.131). The relative risk of complicated appendicitis during the lockdown was 0.68 (95% CI: 0.49-0.93, p = 0.02). The incidence of uncomplicated appendicitis was not significantly different during the national lockdown.CONCLUSIONS: During the national lockdown of Denmark due to the COVID-19 pandemic the incidence of complicated appendicitis was reduced significantly compared to previous years, indicating that infectious disease might be a factor in the pathogenesis of appendicitis with complications.TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04407117).

AB - AIM: To investigate how a nationwide lockdown influences the incidence of appendicitis.BACKGROUND: Communitive infectious diseases may play a role in the pathogenesis of appendicitis as indicated by a seasonal variation in the incidence rate. The spread of communitive infectious diseases has decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; thus, we have an opportunity to study the incidence rate of appendicitis in an environment with less impact from common community infections.METHODS: The study is a nationwide register-based cohort study of the entire Danish population of 5.8 million. The difference in the incidence of appendicitis in a population subjugated to a controlled lockdown with social distancing (study group) was compared to a population not subjugated to a controlled lockdown and social distancing (reference group).RESULTS: The relative risk of appendicitis during the lockdown was 0.92 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.82-1.03, p = 0.131). The relative risk of complicated appendicitis during the lockdown was 0.68 (95% CI: 0.49-0.93, p = 0.02). The incidence of uncomplicated appendicitis was not significantly different during the national lockdown.CONCLUSIONS: During the national lockdown of Denmark due to the COVID-19 pandemic the incidence of complicated appendicitis was reduced significantly compared to previous years, indicating that infectious disease might be a factor in the pathogenesis of appendicitis with complications.TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04407117).

KW - Appendicitis/complications

KW - COVID-19/epidemiology

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Communicable Disease Control

KW - Humans

KW - Incidence

KW - Pandemics

U2 - 10.1177/14574969221089387

DO - 10.1177/14574969221089387

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35488422

VL - 111

JO - Scandinavian Journal of Surgery

JF - Scandinavian Journal of Surgery

SN - 1457-4969

IS - 2

ER -