Nma. Williams et al., IS THE INCIDENCE OF ACUTE APPENDICITIS REALLY FALLING, Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 80(2), 1998, pp. 122-124
To determine if there has been a genuine fall in the incidence of acut
e appendicitis, an epidemiological study using HAA and Korner datasets
for the years 1975-1994 was carried out to identify those children an
d young adults undergoing appendicectomy for acute appendicitis. The o
verall incidence of acute appendicitis fell from 1.84/1000 to 1.17/100
0. This fall was statistically significant (R-2 = 0.74, P < 0.01). The
decrease was significant in both males (overall reduction, 34%) and f
emales (overall reduction, 40%). No significant reduction was observed
in either males or females between 15 and 19 years of age. The overal
l reduction remains essentially unexplained, but may have implications
for health planning and provision of services.