BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had major clinical impact across the globe. Delayed presentation for medical emergencies has been noted by the medical community. There has been limited reporting on the impact for the care for emergent surgical conditions. We sought to describe the effect of the global pandemic on the presentation and outcomes for the most common urgent general surgery disease process, acute appendicitis. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of patients admitted to the United States Naval Hospital Okinawa during the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 2020 to May 2020 (COVID cohort), and compared them to a historical cohort (pre-COVID cohort) over the prior 2 years. Demographics, clinical presentation data, and interventions were collected. RESULTS: Of the 80 patients with appendicitis, 20% presented perforated. Most patients were male (71%), presented with 1 day of symptoms and had a length of stay of 1 to 2 days. Comparing groups, 13% of the pre-COVID group vs. 31% of the COVID cohort presented perforated (P = .04), with a symptom duration of 1.6 vs. 2.7 days before presentation (P = .075), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic and the global systematic response has impacted unrelated medical and surgical conditions. At our overseas military hospital with minimal disease burden, we observed a delay in presentation for acute appendicitis with a higher incidence of perforation. Patients should be empowered to continue to seek care for urgent and emergent medical and surgical conditions so that they are not harmed by fear of COVID-19 rather than by COVID-19 itself. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had major clinical impact across the globe. Delayed presentation for medical emergencies has been noted by the medical community. There has been limited reporting on the impact for the care for emergent surgical conditions. We sought to describe the effect of the global pandemic on the presentation and outcomes for the most common urgent general surgery disease process, acute appendicitis. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of patients admitted to the United States Naval Hospital Okinawa during the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 2020 to May 2020 (COVID cohort), and compared them to a historical cohort (pre-COVID cohort) over the prior 2 years. Demographics, clinical presentation data, and interventions were collected. RESULTS: Of the 80 patients with appendicitis, 20% presented perforated. Most patients were male (71%), presented with 1 day of symptoms and had a length of stay of 1 to 2 days. Comparing groups, 13% of the pre-COVID group vs. 31% of the COVID cohort presented perforated (P = .04), with a symptom duration of 1.6 vs. 2.7 days before presentation (P = .075), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic and the global systematic response has impacted unrelated medical and surgical conditions. At our overseas military hospital with minimal disease burden, we observed a delay in presentation for acute appendicitis with a higher incidence of perforation. Patients should be empowered to continue to seek care for urgent and emergent medical and surgical conditions so that they are not harmed by fear of COVID-19 rather than by COVID-19 itself. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Authors: Philip S Barie; Vanessa P Ho; Catherine J Hunter; Elinore J Kaufman; Mayur Narayan; Fredric M Pieracci; Sebastian D Schubl; Daithi S Heffernan; Jared M Huston Journal: Surg Infect (Larchmt) Date: 2021-02-25 Impact factor: 1.853
Authors: A Bosak Veršić; M Šestan; I Ćepić; H Nikolić; N Bukvić; S Sršen Medančić; D Hasandić; M Zelić Journal: Emerg Med Int Date: 2022-02-24 Impact factor: 1.112
Authors: Ugo Grossi; Gaetano Gallo; Monica Ortenzi; Marco Piccino; Nick Salimian; Mario Guerrieri; Giuseppe Sammarco; Carla Felice; Giulio Aniello Santoro; Salomone Di Saverio; Gian Luca Di Tanna; Giacomo Zanus Journal: Health Sci Rev (Oxf) Date: 2022-03-10