RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Early studies suggested that presentations with unexplained acute abdominal pain were associated with increased long-term rates of hospital attendance and self-harm, especially in women, but few studies were large enough for definitive findings. AIMS: To test the hypothesis that such presentations are followed by higher long-term utilisation rates of secondary health care even excluding further abdominal symptoms, and particularly for self-harm, than presentations with acute appendicitis. METHOD: New hospital attendance rates, liaison psychiatry attendances and self-harm attendances of patients with normal appendices at emergency appendicectomy were compared with those of appendicitis patients. RESULTS: Attendance rates of all kinds were significantly higher for normal appendix patients than for appendicitis patients, with equal strengths of finding for males and females. CONCLUSIONS: People with normal appendices at emergency appendicectomy show higher long-term rates of hospital attendance. This has implications for how these patients are best managed by health care systems.
