Purpose: COVID 19 pandemic had multiple influences on the social, industrial and medical situation in all affected countries. Measures of obligatory medical confinement were suspensions of scheduled non-emergent surgical procedures and outpatients clinics as well as overall access restrictions to hospitals and medical practices.
The aim of this retrospective study was to assess if the obligatory confinement (lockdown) had an effect on the number of appendectomies (during and after the period of lockdown).
Methods: This retrospective study was based on anonymized nationwide administrative claims data of the German Local General Sickness Fund (AOK). Patients admitted for disease of the appendix (ICD-10: K35-K38) or abdominal and pelvic pain (ICD-10: R10) who undergone an appendectomy (OPS: 5-470) were included. The study period included six weeks of German lockdown (16.03.-26.04.2020) as well as six weeks before (03.02.-15.03.2020) and after (27.04.-07.06.2020). These periods were compared to the respective in 2019.
Results: Overall number of appendectomies was significantly reduced during the lockdown time in 2020 compared to 2019. This decrease affects only appendectomies due to acute simple and non-acute appendicitis. Numbers for appendectomies in acute complex appendicitis remained unchanged. Female patients and in the age group 1-18 years showed the strongest decrease in number of cases.
Conclusion: The lockdown in Germany resulted in a decreased number of appendectomies. This affected mainly appendectomies in simple acute and non-acute appendicitis, but not complicated acute appendicitis. The study gives no evidence, that the confinement measures resulted in a deterioration of medical care for appendicitis.
Demographics, Treatment Patterns, and Morbidity in Patients with Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction: An Administrative Claims Data Analysis
