Determination of surgical priorities in appendicitis based on the probability of undetected appendiceal perforation

Table 1 Patient demographics and baseline preoperative characteristics of patients whose initial computed tomography scans suggested nonperforated appendicitis n (%)

	All patients(n = 1236)	No actual appendiceal perforation(n = 1146)	Actual appendiceal perforation(n = 90)	P value
Age (yr)				< 0.001
15-35	556 (45.0)	538 (46.9)	18 (20.0)
35-65	515 (41.7)	471 (41.1)	44 (48.9)
≥ 65	165 (13.3)	137 (12.0)	28 (31.1)
Sex				0.125
Men	612 (49.5)	560 (91.5)	586 (93.9)
Women	624 (50.5)	52 (8.5)	38 (6.1)
Body-mass index (kg/m2)				0.186
< 20	255 (20.6)	239 (20.9)	16 (17.8)
20-25	673 (54.4)	627 (54.7)	46 (51.1)
≥ 25	308 (25.0)	280 (24.4)	28 (31.1)
Comorbidity				0.097
Charlson index = 0	1142 (92.4)	1063 (92.8)	79 (87.8)
Charlson index > 0	94 (7.6)	83 (7.2)	11 (12.2)
Out-of-hospital delay1				0.118
< 72 h	874 (70.7)	817 (71.3)	57 (63.3)
≥ 72 h	362 (29.3)	329 (28.7)	33 (36.7)
Body temperature (°C)				0.003
< 37.6	1029 (83.3)	965 (84.2)	64 (71.1)
≥ 37.6	207 (16.7)	181 (15.8)	26 (28.9)
Presenting symptom				0.640
Abdominal pain	1209 (97.8)	1121 (97.8)	88 (97.8)
Nausea, vomiting	14 (1.1)	13 (1.2)	1 (1.1)
Fever/chill	12 (1.0)	12 (1.0)	0 (0.0)
Indigestion	1 (0.1)	0 (0.0)	1 (1.1)
Lab. findings, median (range)
WBC count (× 103/mm3)	12.0 (1.9-28.7)	11.9(1.9-28.4)	13.8 (4.3-28.7)	0.128
Platelet count (× 103/mm3)	222 (82-587)	223 (82-857)	215 (93-503)	0.102
Neutrophil fraction				0.038
< 65%	244 (19.7)	234 (20.4)	10 (11.1)
≥ 65%	992 (80.3)	912 (79.6)	80 (88.9)
Appendix diameter (CT scan)				0.004
< 8 mm	131 (10.6)	129 (11.3)	2 (2.2)
≥ 8 mm	1105 (89.4)	1017 (88.7)	88 (97.8)
Presence of appendicolith (CT scan)				0.502
No	1086 (87.9)	1009 (88.0)	77 (85.6)
Yes	150 (12.1)	137 (12.0)	13 (14.4)
Time-to-incision (min)2				0.860
mean ± SD	534 ± 498	535 ± 499	521 ± 487
Median (range)	373 (48-4285)	373 (48-4285)	362 (70-3194)

¹Out-of-hospital delay was defined as the time interval between development of initial symptom and the visit to hospital;

²Time-to-incision was defined as the time interval between arrival to the hospital and making incision for operation. CT: Computed tomography; SD: Standard deviation; WBC: White blood cells.