Table 2.
Patient and disease characteristics
| Historical cohort N = 7908 (%) |
Pandemic cohort N = 6771 (%) |
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EGS diagnosis | 0.98 | ||
| Appendicitis | 20.8 | 20.9 | |
| Cholecystitis | 14.8 | 14.8 | |
| Small bowel obstruction | 28.7 | 29.1 | |
| Diverticulitis | 29.8 | 29.3 | |
| Hernia w/ obstruction or gangrene | 6.0 | 5.9 | |
| COVID test results | N/A | ||
| Positive | N/A | 2.5 | |
| Negative | N/A | 30.2 | |
| Untested | N/A | 67.4 | |
| Age | 0.02 | ||
| 18–44.9 | 28.1 | 29.2 | |
| 45–64.9 | 36.5 | 34.8 | |
| 65–74.9 | 18.7 | 17.9 | |
| 75 + | 16.8 | 18.2 | |
| Female sex | 53.9 | 54.2 | 0.73 |
| Race | 0.82 | ||
| White/Caucasian | 75.3 | 75.6 | |
| Black/African | 22.1 | 22.1 | |
| Others | 2.4 | 2.3 | |
| Relationship status | 0.12 | ||
| Married | 49.9 | 48.3 | |
| Divorced/legally separated | 11.2 | 10.9 | |
| Single/widowed | 38.4 | 40.2 | |
| Missing/unknown | 0.4 | 0.5 | |
| Body mass index (BMI)* | < 0.001 | ||
| ≤ 18.5 kg/m2 | 2.8 | 3.5 | |
| 18.6–24.9 kg/m2 | 23.1 | 23.7 | |
| 25–29.9 kg/m2 | 27.0 | 27.7 | |
| 30–39.9 kg/m2 | 28.4 | 29.2 | |
| ≥ 40 kg/m2 | 8.2 | 9.0 | |
| Missing | 10.6 | 6.9 | |
| Elixhauser comorbidity index | 0.39 | ||
| 0–1 | 40.5 | 41.4 | |
| 2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | |
| ≥ 3 | 58.8 | 57.8 | |
| Average income by zip code | 0.02 | ||
| ≤ $49,999 | 37.2 | 36.4 | |
| $50,000–$74,999 | 39.5 | 38.6 | |
| $75,000–$99,999 | 7.9 | 7.7 | |
| ≥ $100,000 | 15.4 | 17.3 | |
| Metropolitan status by zip code | 0.01 | ||
| Metropolitan county | 81.6 | 83.2 | |
| Non-metropolitan county | 18.4 | 16.7 |
*If missing not included in BMI analysis, groups were not different (p = 0.19)