title: Association between Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Appendicitis: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.
abstract: Appendicitis and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are both prevalent diseases and might share similar pathological mechanisms. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between GERD and appendicitis using a large population-based dataset. This study used administrative claims data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. We identified 7113 patients with appendicitis as cases, and 28452 matched patients without appendicitis as controls. This study revealed that GERD was found in 359 (5.05%) cases and 728 (2.56%) controls (p < 0.001). Conditional logistic regression shows that the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of GERD for cases was 2.05 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08~2.33) compared to controls. The adjusted ORs of prior GERD for patients aged 18~39, 40~59, and ≥60 years with appendicitis were 1.96 (95% CI: 1.56~2.47), 2.36 (95% CI: 1.94~2.88), and 1.71 (95% CI: 1.31~2.22) than controls, respectively. We concluded that patients with appendicitis had higher odds of prior GERD than those without appendicitis regardless of age group.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.|Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Ting
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Cathay General Hospital, Hsinchu Branch, Taiwan.|School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Chieh
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Herng-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cha-Ze
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult