Are acute exacerbations of chronic inflammatory appendicitis triggered by coprostasis and/or coproliths?

Table 1 Incidence of coprostasis and coproliths among groups (%)

Pathology classification	Coprostasis (n = 58)	Coprolith (n = 6)
Acute	33/294 (11.22)	3/294 (1.02)
Subacute recurrent	12/34 (35.20)	1/34 (2.94)
Acute recurrent	9/56 (16.07)	1/56 (1.78)
Chronic	3/28 (10.71)	0/28 (0.00)
No inflammation	1/15 (06.66)	1/15 (6.66)

Table 2 Pathological findings

	Acute (A: n = 294)	Sub-acute recurrent (B: n = 34)	Acute recurrent (C: n = 56)	Chronic (D: n = 28)	P
Gangrenous	45	0	0	0	A vs B, P = 0.0101, A vs C, P = 0.0007
Perforated	38	0	0	0	A vs B, P = 0.0199, A vs C, P = 0.0019
Peri-appendicitis	205	3	28	3	A vs B, P = 0.0001, A vs C, P = 0.0498
Abscess	14	0	0
Other
Oxyuriasis	3	0	0	0
Yersinia	0	1	1	0

Table 3 Forward stepwise regression analysis model, only age and coprostasis were among predictors in the final model

	Steps	Degrees of freedom	F to remove	P to remove	F to enter	P to enter	Effect status
Age	Step number 1	3			4 472 079	0 005 081	Entered
Gender		3			0 880 568	0 453 150	Out
Coprostasis		3			3 277 140	0 023 264	Out
Coprolith		3			0 681 613	0 564 865	Out
Other pathology		3			1 437 535	0 234 958	Out
Age	Step number 2	3	447 207	0 005 081			In
Gender		3			0 914 989	0 435 791	Out
Coprostasis		3			3 039 213	0 031 532	Entered
Coprolith		3			1 140 316	0 335 493	Out
Other pathology		3			1 256 381	0 292 311	Out
Age	Step number 3	3	421 918	0 007 020			In
Coprostasis		3	303 921	0 031 532			In
Gender		3			0 729 353	0 536 341	Out
Coprolith		3			1 119 171	0 343 986	Out
Other pathology		3			1 059 992	0 368 677	Out

The presence of coproliths did not discriminate among groups. Summary of stepwise regression; variable appendicitis forward stepwise P to enter, < 0.05; P to remove, > 0.05.