Abstract:
Objective To explore the predictive value of common clinical inflammatory markers for complex appendicitis in children of different age groups.
Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 861 patients who were diagnosed with acute appendicitis at Shanghai Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University from January 2018 to December 2021. According to postoperative pathology, the patients were divided into two groups: complex appendicitis and non-complex appendicitis. Furthermore, the patients were also divivided into a younger age group (<60 months) and an older age group (≥60 months). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed for each age group to identify independent risk factors for complex appendicitis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the predictive value of different inflammatory markers.
Results Among the 861 patients, 526 were male and 335 were female; 721 were in the older age group, and 140 were in the younger age group. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were independent risk factors for complex appendicitis in the younger age group, while D-dimer (D-D), CRP, PCT, white blood cell count (WBC), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were independent risk factors for complex appendicitis in the older age group (
P<0.05). ROC curves showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for PCT, CRP, and their combination in predicting complex appendicitis in the younger age group were 0.809 (95%CI:0.773-0.915), 0.842 (95%CI:0.707-0.860), and 0.860 (95%CI:0.776-0.944), respectively. In the older age group, the AUC values for PCT, CRP, D-D, WBC, NLR, and their combination in predicting complex appendicitis were 0.767 (95%CI:0.723-0.811), 0.770 (95%CI:0.726-0.814), 0.757 (95%CI:0.712-0.801), 0.604 (95%CI:0.553-0.656), 0.677 (95%CI:0.630-0.723), and 0.850 (95%CI:0.815-0.884), respectively.
Conclusions There are significant differences in inflammatory markers between children in the older and younger age groups with complex appendicitis, with different independent risk factors in each age group. The combination of inflammatory markers provides better predictive value for complex appendicitis than each marker alone in both age groups.