Acute appendicitis in the elderly

ABSTRACT

Acute appendicitis continues to be an important health problem. A total number of [1144] patients operated on had acute appendicitis were reviewed retrospectively in Saddam Teaching Hospital during the period from 1988 to 1992. Approximately [45%] of the patients were in the age group 10-20 years while [4.2%] were in the age group 50 and above. Of the latter group [30.6%] had perforated appendicitis, while [4.8%] was the corresponding percentage for the age group below 50 years, which is statistically significant. For patients in age group 50 and above, the mean duration of symptoms till surgery was [3.4 days] in the perforated group, while the corresponding figure for the non-perforated group was [1.5] days, which is statistically significant. Increased pulse rate >100/min in [66.6%] and increased body temperature > 38°C in [73.3%] were recorded in the perforated group for the age 50 years and above compared to [33.3%] and [26.5%] for the non-perforated group which was statistically highly significant. The above findings suggest that this observation deserves attention regarding clinical diagnosis and treatment decision-making for patient with suspected acute appendicitis especially in the elderly age group