RESUMO
PURPOSE: This retrospective study was performed to investigate epidemiological characteristics in terms of the ageand the sex-specific incidences in patients with perforated or nonperforated appendicitis. METHOD: The study population comprised 314 patients who underwent appendectomies for suspected acute appendicitis between March 2002 and August 2003. This study used the student t-test, the coefficient of correlation, and the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square statistics. RESULTS: The incidence of nonperforated appendicitis was higher. Perforated appendicitis occurred at almost the same incidence in both sexes. However, the incidence of perforated appendicitis was high in small children and the elderly. The statistics of this study proved that the incidence of perforated appendicitis of the elderly was considerable. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the elderly need careful examination and rapid evaluation. Also, we suggest that since perforated appendicitis has a long duration of treatment, diagnostic accuracy is needed.