Table 2. Abdominal Pain and Its Combinations With Other Symptoms of Potentially Missed Appendicitisa.
| Symptom | Unadjusted | Adjustedb | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OR (95% CI) | P Value | OR (95% CI) | P Value | |
| Adults | ||||
| Total, No. | 101 375 | 100 833 | ||
| Abdominal pain only | 0.59 (0.56-0.62) | <.001 | 0.65 (0.62-0.69) | <.001 |
| Abdominal pain and constipation | 1.87 (1.63-2.15) | <.001 | 1.51 (1.31-1.75) | <.001 |
| Abdominal pain and nausea and/or vomiting | 0.86 (0.81-0.92) | <.001 | 0.90 (0.84-0.97) | .003 |
| Abdominal pain, nausea and/or vomiting, and fever | 0.77 (0.63-0.94) | .009 | 0.78 (0.64-0.95) | .02 |
| Abdominal pain, nausea and/or vomiting, fever, and constipation | 1.21 (0.61-2.39) | .58 | 0.94 (0.47-1.87) | .86 |
| No abdominal pain | 4.80 (4.36-5.29) | <.001 | 3.57 (3.22-3.95) | <.001 |
| Children | ||||
| Total, No. | 22 336 | 22 250 | ||
| Abdominal pain only | 0.71 (0.62-0.81) | <.001 | 0.79 (0.69-0.90) | <.001 |
| Abdominal pain and constipation | 2.41 (1.86-3.13) | <.001 | 2.43 (1.86-3.17) | <.001 |
| Abdominal pain and nausea and/or vomiting | 0.81 (0.69-0.95) | .01 | 0.84 (0.71-0.98) | .03 |
| Abdominal pain, nausea and/or vomiting, and fever | 0.83 (0.63-1.10) | .20 | 0.77 (0.58-1.02) | .06 |
| Abdominal pain, nausea and/or vomiting, fever, and constipation | 1.45 (0.76-2.76) | .26 | 1.09 (0.56-2.10) | .80 |
| No abdominal pain | 3.73 (2.86-4.87) | <.001 | 2.99 (2.25-3.96) | <.001 |
Abbreviation: OR, odds ratio.
a
Independent unadjusted and adjusted ORs were calculated, in which the reference group included all patients who were not exposed. For instance, patient episodes in which the patient presented with abdominal pain only would have had a reference group of all others who were not in this undifferentiated symptom combination category.
b
Models were adjusted for age group, sex, race/ethnicity, census region, insurance product, comorbidity index, laboratory tests, imaging diagnostic workups, and respective symptom or symptom combination.