Epidemiology and socioeconomic features of appendicitis in Taiwan: a 12-year population-based study

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of patients with appendicitis in Taiwan from 2000 to 2011

Variable	Total(n = 294,544)		Male(n = 156,371)		Female(n = 134,141)		P
Variable	n	%	n	%	n	%	P
Age Stratum							< 0.001
0–14 y/o	38,222	12.98 %	23,382	14.95 %	14,803	11.04 %
15–29 y/o	91,965	31.22 %	48,056	30.73 %	41,589	31.00 %
30–44 y/o	78,384	26.61 %	41,305	26.41 %	35,528	26.49 %
45–59 y/o	48,590	16.50 %	25,001	15.99 %	23,478	17.50 %
60 y/o or more	37,383	12.69 %	18,627	11.91 %	18,743	13.97 %
Comorbidities ^a							< 0.001
0	281,756	95.66 %	149,510	95.61 %	128,227	95.59 %
1	11,732	3.98 %	6,235	3.99 %	5,485	4.09 %
≥ 2	1056	0.36 %	626	0.40 %	429	0.32 %
Readmission for complication ^b							< 0.001
No	285,359	96.88 %	150,293	96.11 %	131,091	97.73 %
Yes	9,185	3.12 %	6,078	3.89 %	3,050	2.27 %
Hospital Mortality							< 0.001
No	294,197	99.88 %	156,147	99.86 %	134,019	99.91 %
Yes	347	0.12 %	224	0.14 %	122	0.09 %
Operation Type							< 0.001
OA	223,145	80.46 %	119,052	80.88 %	100,278	79.41 %
LA	54,178	19.54 %	28,147	19.12 %	26,007	20.59 %
Hospital Level ^c							< 0.001
District Hospital	58,303	19.68 %	30,513	19.40 %	26,160	19.38 %
Regional Hospital	139,070	46.93 %	74,210	47.17 %	63,211	46.83 %
Medical Center	98,946	33.39 %	52,585	33.43 %	45,597	33.78 %
Area level							< 0.001
Urban	252994	85.72 %	133,743	85.34 %	115,859	86.20 %
Suburban	38568	13.07 %	21,004	13.40 %	17,014	12.66 %
Rural	3594	1.22 %	1,965	1.25 %	1,536	1.14 %

OA Open Appendectomy LA Laparoscopic Appendectomy
A total of 4,032 records of appendicitis patients were missing information regarding gender
The denominator for “Operation Type” was the total number of patients who underwent a primary appendectomy (277,323)
^a Comorbidities were identified by referring to the ICD-9-CM codes, as described in Appendix C in [17]
^b Readmission for complication was defined as readmission with the diagnosis of a commonly encountered postoperative complication within 1 month after an appendectomy (Appendix B in [17])
^c In Taiwan, there are four types of accreditation (medical center, regional hospital, district hospital, and unaccredited hospital). Unaccredited hospital refers to clinic, special pharmacy, and home care organizations; they cannot treat appendicitis patients. Therefore, in the present paper, we separate hospitals into three groups by accreditation status: medical center, regional hospital, and district hospital

ISSN: 1749-7922