Effects of race, insurance status, and hospital volume on perforated appendicitis in children.
OBJECTIVE
Previous research suggests that perforated appendicitis is more common in Medicaid patients, but the roles of minority race and hospital volume remain largely unstudied. We sought to investigate the association of perforated appendicitis in children with minority race, insurance status, and hospital volume.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study of 33184 children who had an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis code for acute appendicitis in The Kids' Inpatient Database, a pediatric database from 22 states in 1997. A multivariate logistic regression model was developed to determine patient and hospital characteristics predictive of perforated appendicitis.


RESULTS
Of 33184 children with acute appendicitis, 10777 (32.5%) were perforated. In multivariate analysis, black (odds ratio [OR]: 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-1.39) and Hispanic (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.10-1.29) children were more likely to have perforated appendicitis than white children. Perforation was also more likely in Medicaid patients (OR: 1.30; 95% CI 1.22-1.39) compared with privately insured children. Annual hospital volume of cases of appendicitis was not significantly associated with perforation in multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Perforated appendicitis disproportionately affected both children of minority race and children insured by Medicaid. No effect of hospital volume was observed. To reduce this racial disparity, efforts should focus on the causes of delayed diagnosis and the treatment of appendicitis in children of minority race.
Smink
Douglas S
DS
Department of Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. dsmink@partners.org
Fishman
Steven J
SJ
Kleinman
Ken
K
Finkelstein
Jonathan A
JA
D000208:Acute Disease; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007348:Insurance, Health; D016015:Logistic Models; D008484:Medicaid; D008913:Minority Groups; D044469:Racial Groups; D012189:Retrospective Studies