Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 30;53(3):122-131.
doi: 10.4274/TJAR.2025.241755. Epub 2025 May 16.

National Trends in Hospitalizations for Appendectomy in Children, 2001-2017

Ludmilla Candido Santos  1 , Jingya Gao  1 , Ronaldo C Fabiano Filho  1 , Piero F Mejia  1 , Lacey B Robinson  1   2   3 , Carlos A Camargo Jr  1   2   3
Affiliations

National Trends in Hospitalizations for Appendectomy in Children, 2001-2017

Ludmilla Candido Santos et al. Turk J Anaesthesiol Reanim. .

Abstract

Objective: Appendectomy for acute appendicitis is the most common acute surgical procedure in children. Recent changes in appendicitis management have likely modified the nature and cost of hospitalizations for this condition.

Methods: Using data from the National Inpatient Sample from 2001 to 2017, we performed a cross-sectional study and identified the temporal changes in hospitalization for appendectomy. Changes in relative hospitalization cost and length-of-stay were also studied to assess their associations with the changes in procedure incidence. Patient and hospital characteristics were considered to understand outcome disparities between groups. Geographic variation in the outcomes was also identified at the United States region and division levels.

Results: The incidence of appendectomy hospitalization decreased from 11.2 to 6.4 per 10,000 person-years between 2001 and 2017. Conversely, the median procedure cost increased 61% during this same period. The temporal changes in appendectomy hospitalization varied according to patient and hospital characteristics, as well as geographic locations.

Conclusion: The overall incidence of appendectomies in children decreased substantially from 2001 to 2017, yet the trend for costs was in the opposite direction. The data on the clinical factors driving these trends can be useful in guiding policies with evidence-based guidelines that help optimize clinical decisions and the effective use of resources in the management of appendicitis.

Keywords: Appendicitis; cross-sectional studies; epidemiology; perioperative care; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Incidence of pediatric surgical hospitalizations per 10,000 person-years, 2001-2017.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Incidence of pediatric appendicitis diagnosed hospitalizations per 10,000 person-years, 2001-2017
Figure 3
Figure 3
Incidence of pediatric appendicitis diagnosed hospitalizations by procedure type, 2001-2017
Figure 4
Figure 4
Incidence of pediatric appendectomy hospitalization per division in 2012 (left) and percent of incidence reduced between 2012 and 2017 (right)
Figure 5
Figure 5
Median cost of pediatric appendectomy hospitalization in United States dollar, by hospital teaching status, 2001-2017
Figure 6
Figure 6
Median cost of appendectomy hospitalization per division in 2012 (left) and percent of cost increased between 2012 and 2017 (right)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Weiss AJ, Liang L, Martin K. Overview of hospital stays among children and adolescents, 2019. 2022. In: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Statistical Briefs [Internet].
    1. Bucholz EM, Toomey SL, Schuster MA. Trends in pediatric hospitalizations and readmissions: 2010-2016.Pediatrics. Feb . 2019;143(2):e20181958. doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-1958. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Freyleue SD, Arakelyan M, Leyenaar JK. Epidemiology of pediatric hospitalizations at general hospitals and freestanding children’s hospitals in the United States: 2019 update. J Hosp Med. 2023;18(10):908–917. doi: 10.1002/jhm.13194. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McDermott KW, Liang L. Overview of operating room procedures during inpatient stays in U.S. hospitals, 2018. 2021. In: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Statistical Briefs [Internet]. - PubMed
    1. Witt WP, Weiss AJ, Elixhauser A. Overview of hospital stays for children in the United States, 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2014. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources