title: Demographic characteristics and seasonal variations of acute appendicitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The most common disease required emergency surgical operation is acute appendicitis. Appendectomy is the most common surgical procedure in the world and remains important due to be an efficient treatment method. We aimed to determine seasonal variations of acute appendicitis in our regions and identify the demographical and regional differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed retrospectively data of the patients who were admitted to the Afyon Kocatepe University hospital and Sivrihisar State hospital between 2003 and 2012. 839 patients' data were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of the all patients was 33 ± 14.7 year. Acute appendicitis was seen more frequent in autumn and spring (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference between seasons in Afyon Kocatepe university hospital, while appendicitis was seen more common in autumn than winter in Sivrihisar state hospital (P < 0.05). There was not any relationship with the monthly average temperature, humidity, total precipitation amount and frequency of appendicitis (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although appendicitis has a seasonal variation, other environmental factors and impact of nutritional habit should not be ignored. Etiology of appendicitis is still multifactorial. In the future multiparameter nationwide studies can present country-specific etiology of appendicitis.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Appendectomy, Appendicitis, Seasonal variations.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bal
authors.forename: Ziya Taner
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Ozkececi
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Turkoglu
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozsoy
authors.forename: Ruchan Bahadir
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Celep
authors.forename: Sezgin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Yüksel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arikan
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008685:Meteorological Concepts; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult