Analysis of deferral times in patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis

There are still controversies regarding the time of surgical management for acute appendicitis (AA). The main objective of this study was to recognize the surgical deferral time in patients with acute appendicitis and its relationship with the severity of presentation.

We performed a retrospective review of prospectively collected data of all patients with acute appendicitis undergoing appendectomy from August 2018 to August 2020 in an academic, public hospital. Elapsed time from arrival to the emergency room to skin incision was determined. Patients were divided into three groups based on the elapsed time: less than 6 h, between 6 and 12 h, and more than 12 h.

A total of 782 patients were included. Of them, 443 (56.6%) patients had a surgical deferral time of less than 6 h, 238 (30.4%) patients between 6 and 12 h, and 101 (13%) patients of more than 12 h. Patients with more than 12 h of surgical deferral time had a more complicated clinical presentation (P = 0.013), a higher frequency of abscess formation (P = 0.022), higher requirement for the use of surgical drainage (P = 0.018), and longer length of hospital stay (P = <0.001).

Surgical deferral >12 h was associated with a higher incidence of complicated appendicitis, intra-abdominal abscesses, and overall hospital stay. However, in the multivariate analysis, only total evolution time, from the first symptom to surgery, was a significant independent predictor of complicated appendicitis.