Research Paper

Dramatic Decline of Acute Appendicitis in Greece over 30 Years: Index of Improvement of Socioeconomic Conditions or Diagnostic Aids?
A.A. Papadopoulos^a, D. Polymeros^a, M. Kateri^b, C. Tzathas^a, M. Koutras^b, S.D. Ladas<sup>a

a</sup>Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, and
^bDepartment of Statistics and Insurance Science, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

Address of Corresponding Author

Dig Dis 2008;26:80-84 (DOI: 10.1159/000109393)

  Key Words

• Acute appendicitis, Greece
• Acute appendicitis, incidence, decrease

  Abstract

Background and Aims: There are several reports showing a continuing fall in the incidence of acute appendicitis in the western countries. Our aim was to study the trend of the incidence of acute appendicitis in the Greek population over 30 years. Methods: We analyzed the data referring to the years 1970-1999 on the incidence and mortality of acute appendicitis for the entire Greek population. Data were retrieved from the Annual Bulletin for the Social Welfare and Health Statistics of the National Statistics Service of Greece. In this database, acute appendicitis was a hospital discharge diagnosis. Results: Over the study period, there was a 75% decrease of the age-standardized incidence of acute appendicitis from 652/100,000 to 164/100,000. The median female-to-male ratio of hospitalized patients for appendicitis of the study period (1970-1999) fell progressively from 1.27 in the year 1970 to 0.93 in the year 1999. The case fatality rates remained constant, ranging below 0.09 deaths per 100 appendicitis cases. Conclusion: There is a significant decline of the incidence of acute appendicitis in the Greek population over the years 1970-1999. This time trend is probably related to the improvement of the socioeconomic conditions over the same period and not to the introduction of new diagnostic aids.

Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Prof. Spiros D. Ladas, MD, Chairman
1st Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Medical School
University of Athens, 'Laiko' General Hospital of Athens
17 Ag. Thoma, Athens 11527 (Greece)
Tel. +30 210 745 6261, Fax +30 210 779 839, E-Mail sdladas@otenet.gr

  Article Information

Published online: NIL
Number of Print Pages : 5
Number of Figures : 4, Number of Tables : 1, Number of References : 25