Incidence of Appendicitis over Time: A Comparative Analysis of an Administrative Healthcare Database and a Pathology-Proven Appendicitis Registry |
| |
Authors: | Stephanie Coward Hashim Kareemi Fiona Clement Scott Zimmer Elijah Dixon Chad G. Ball Steven J. Heitman Mark Swain Subrata Ghosh Gilaad G. Kaplan |
| |
Affiliation: | 1Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;2Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;3Information Management and Dissemination, Medicine, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Alberta, Canada;4Department of Surgery, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;University of Illinois-Chicago, UNITED STATES |
| |
Abstract: | ImportanceAt the turn of the 21st century, studies evaluating the change in incidence of appendicitis over time have reported inconsistent findings.ObjectivesWe compared the differences in the incidence of appendicitis derived from a pathology registry versus an administrative database in order to validate coding in administrative databases and establish temporal trends in the incidence of appendicitis.DesignWe conducted a population-based comparative cohort study to identify all individuals with appendicitis from 2000 to2008.ResultsThe administrative database (PPV = 83.0%) overestimated the incidence of appendicitis (100.3 per 100,000) when compared to the pathology registry (84.2 per 100,000). Codes for perforated appendicitis were not reliable (PPV = 52.4%) leading to overestimation in the incidence of perforated appendicitis in the administrative database (34.8 per 100,000) as compared to the pathology registry (19.4 per 100,000). The incidence of appendicitis significantly increased over time in both the administrative database (APC = 2.1%; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.8) and pathology registry (APC = 4.1; 95% CI: 3.1, 5.0).Conclusion & RelevanceThe administrative database overestimated the incidence of appendicitis, particularly among perforated appendicitis. Therefore, studies utilizing administrative data to analyze perforated appendicitis should be interpreted cautiously. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|