Race Linked To Appendicitis Care

UCLA researchers have discovered a troubling link between the appendicitis treatment California children receive and their ethnicity, suggesting those in certain minority groups are far more likely to experience life-threatening complications.

According to the study, which examined the discharge data of more than 107,000 children treated for appendicitis in California between 1999 and 2007, Asian children were 34% more likely than white children to suffer a perforated or ruptured appendix when they were treated at community hospitals.

Latino children were 23% more likely than whites to suffer perforation at community hospitals, while they were 18% more likely to suffer the condition while treated at children's hospitals. Similar negative disparities were suffered by African-American children being treated at county and children's facilities.

“Appendicitis is a time dependent disease process that leads to more a complicated medical outcome,” when the appendix is perforated, according to Stephen Shew, M.D., associate professor of surgery at UCLA Medical Center and the study's lead author. 

Patients with perforated or ruptured appendixes are at much higher risk for developing peritonitis or other life-threatening complications.

Despite discovering the disparities in outcome, the study only suggested that language barriers and access to healthcare services played a role.

The findings were published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.