Deaths in children with acute appendicitis.
Two hundred and four children died of acute appendicitis in England and Wales in the five-year period 1963-7. The mortality rate in children less than 5 years old was eight times higher than that in those aged 5-14. It is suggested that diagnosis, intravenous therapy, treatment of convulsions and hyperpyrexia, and anaesthesia are fields where there is room for improvement in management. Moreover, there is a place for the wider use of national medical audits on the lines of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003644:Death Certificates; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010538:Peritonitis / Q000401:mortality; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology; D014852:Wales; D014882:Water-Electrolyte Balance