Appendectomy Hospital Stay: No Difference in Obese Adult or Pediatric Patient Length of Stay Compared to Nonobese Patients

Abstract

Background: Studies of adult and pediatric patients undergoing appendectomy have reported variable outcomes and operative metrics related to the effect of obesity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of obesity in adult and pediatric patients undergoing appendectomy at our institution. Methods: This single-center retrospective study evaluated the relationship between length of hospital stay for appendectomy and body mass index (BMI). Data obtained from the electronic medical record included age, sex, weight, height, BMI, the number of hours the patient experienced symptoms prior to presentation to the emergency room, the number of hours the patient was admitted prior to surgery, the number of hours of hospital admission after surgery, perforated appendix, preoperative comorbidities, and evidence of preoperative sepsis. Results: During the 3-year study period, 118 adults and 38 children who underwent appendectomy composed the study groups. Patients were stratified by obese and nonobese, with obesity defined as BMI ࣙ30.0 kg/m 2. In adults, we found no significant difference between length of stay in obese (n=45) and nonobese (n=73) patients (79.6 ± 65.5 hours vs 101.6 ± 123.0 hours; P=0.21). In children, we found no significant difference between length of stay in obese (n=9) and nonobese (n=29) patients (92.9 ± 64.6 hours vs 109.0 ± 93.5 hours; P=0.54). Conclusion: Obesity did not affect length of stay in adults and children who underwent appendectomy in the present series.

Comparison of conservative and operative treatment of uncomplicated appendicitis in the pediatric population

“…Also, there are studies which find no significant difference between these two therapeutic modalities [14,25]. The length of hospital stays of patients operated on for acute appendicitis is significantly longer in our study possibly due to the different protocols considering the length of hospital stay after appendectomy in our hospital, which differs from studies published in the world [26,27,28].…”

The Impact of Obesity on Perioperative Outcomes for Children Undergoing Appendectomy for Acute Appendicitis: A Systematic Review

“…Basic publication details and patient demographics are presented in Table 1. Included studies [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] were published between 2007 and 2023. The smallest study included 94 patients, and the largest included 9606 patients.…”

“…The smallest study included 94 patients, and the largest included 9606 patients. Study designs consisted of nine retrospective studies [20,21,24,[27][28][29][30][31]33], four prospective studies [23,25,26,32], and one meta-analysis [22]. The majority (n = 12) of the studies were derived from a single-center institution, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]28,29,31,32], while 2 studies included patients from a national database [27,30].…”

“…The majority (n = 12) of the studies were derived from a single-center institution, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]28,29,31,32], while 2 studies included patients from a national database [27,30]. Of the 14 studies, 9 were conducted in the USA [22,[24][25][26][27][29][30][31]33], 2 in Canada [20,23], and 1 each in Austria [21], the Netherlands [29], and Spain [32].…”

“…From the existing data, it came up that the sum of overweight and obese children was 5209 (male/female ratio: 1:07), representing 32.3% of the total patients. BMI classification was carried out based on the CDC classification in 10 studies [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], while the rest followed the WHO classification [32] or their institutions [20,23,33]. A total of 14.822 children underwent urgent/emergency appendectomy, while the remaining 1318 were in an elective setting.…”