Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the restrictions on pediatric appendicitis in Turkey: A single‐center experience

Abstract

Background In this study, we investigated how the incidence and course of acute appendicitis (AA) changed in children, during the pandemic. Methods Children diagnosed with AA during the one‐year pandemic period after the first COVID‐19 case in Turkey and the previous one year were included in the study. Children were divided into two groups: those hospitalised during the pandemic (group A) and hospitalized in the previous year of the pandemic (group B). Furthermore, we compared the findings obtained for COVID‐19‐positive and COVID‐19‐negative children in the whole study group and within group A. Results In our study, a significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of gender, the rate of vomiting and number of days of vomiting. Complicated AA findings were found more frequently from the results of patients in group B than in group A. In addition, the hospital stay was longer, and the mean number of days with fever, and mean body temperature were higher in COVID‐19 positive patients in the whole study group and within group A. Conclusions Contrary to most studies in the literature, in our study patients were admitted to hospital later in the pre‐pandemic period, and therefore the frequency of complicated AA might have been more common in these patients. In conclusion, the arrangements and warnings of health authorities during the pandemic, might have reduced the anxiety and the hesitancy of the families to go to the hospital and relatively the rate of complicated acute appendicitis.