Research Article Characteristics of Acute Appendicitis before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Single Center Experience A. Bosak Verˇ si´ c , 1 M. ˇ Sestan , 2 I. ´ Cepi´ c , 3 H. Nikoli´ c , 1 N. Bukvi´ c , 1 S. Srˇ sen Medanˇ ci´ c , 1 D. Hasandi´ c , 1 and M. Zeli´ c 3 1 Pediatric Surgery Department, University Hospital Rijeka, Rijeka 51000, Croatia 2 Medical Faculty, University Hospital Rijeka, Rijeka 51000, Croatia 3 Surgery Department, University Hospital Rijeka, Rijeka 5100, Croatia CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoA.BosakVerˇ si´ c; anabosak@yahoo.com Received 26 November 2021; Accepted 28 January 2022; Published 24 February 2022 AcademicEditor:RobertoCirocchi Copyright © 2022 A. Bosak Verˇ si´ c et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. e aim of the study was to investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increased incidence of complicated ap- pendicitis due to the late presentation when compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Summary Background Data. Acute ap- pendicitisisoneofthemostcommonsurgicalemergencies.Duringthecoronavirus-19(COVID-19)pandemic,therehasbeena reporteddelayinthepresentationofsomeurgenciestotheemergencyhospitaldepartments. Methods.Atotalof427patientswho underwent surgical treatment due to suspected acute appendicitis from June 2019 to November 2020 were retrospectively includedinthisstudy.epatientsweredividedintotwogroups:thefirst(pre-COVID-19)groupconsistedofpatientswhohad surgery before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic (n � 240), while the second (COVID-19) group consisted of those who were operated during the COVID-19 pandemic (n � 187). e primary outcome of the study was to compare the incidence of perforated appendicitis before and during the onset of COVID-19. Results. Overall, 84 patients (19.67%) were diagnosed with perforatedappendicitis.Wefoundaweaksignificance(p � 0.085)intherateofperforatedappendicitisbetweenthepre-COVID- 19(17.08%)andtheCOVID-19era(22.99%). Conclusions.Wedidnotobserveanysignificantdifferenceinthecomplicationsof acuteappendicitisbeforeandduringtheCOVID-19pandemicinauniversityhospitalinRijeka.Anemergentmedicalcareshould always be accessible. 1. Introduction Attheendof2019,anewcoronaviruswasidentifiedasthe cause of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. It rapidlyspreads,resultinginanepidemicthroughoutChina, followedbyanincreaseinthenumberofcasesincountries around the world. In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the disease COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019 [1, 2]. Many countriesstruggledtostaveofftherapidspreadofCOVID- 19 by implementing different strategies. In most countries, including Croatia, authorities have instructed the public to stay at home and to avoid unnecessary socializing. In our hospital,asignificantdecreaseinthenumberofemergency department (ED) examinations has been noted. However, urgent medical cases have continued to appear along the current outbreak, and their diagnosis needs to be made appropriately. Delayed diagnosis and treatment of these conditions may lead to a significant morbidity that may outweigh the harm caused by COVID-19 infection [3]. Acute appendicitis is one of the most common abdominal surgicalemergenciesingeneralwitha7%lifetimerisk[4–7]. Eventhough antibiotics have been described as a type of therapy for uncomplicated appendicitis, surgery still re- mainsthepreferabletreatmentmodality[8].Earlydiagnosis of appendicitis and consequent appropriate surgical treat- ment is important as it may prevent complications such as appendix perforation, abscess formation, and other post- operative complications including death [9]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that more patients will Hindawi Emergency Medicine International Volume 2022, Article ID 4541748, 5 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4541748