Appendicular abscess epidemiology and demographics

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aditya Ganti M.B.B.S. [2]

Appendicular abscess is one of the rarest entity that presents with abdominal pain. It occurs in around 2-7% of patients with appendicitis. Younger people, in the age group of 10-19, have a higher chance of developing appendicular abscess when medically not treated. Males are more likely to develop appendicular abscess than females. Caucasians are more likely to develop complications of appendicitis than non-Caucasians.

The lifetime risk of appendicitis is 8.6% for males and 6.7% for female of which only 2-7% develops abscess.^[1]

Annual incidence of appendicitis in United States is 9.38 per 100,000 persons.^[2]

Appendicular abscess occurs most often between the ages of 10 and 30.^[1]

Males are more commonly affected with appendicular abscess than females. The male to female ratio is approximately 1.4 to 1.^[1]

• Appendicitis usually affects individuals of the white race. Non-white individuals are less likely to develop appendicitis.^[1]

• Appendicitis rates were 1.5 times higher for whites than for nonwhites and 11.3% higher in the summer than in the winter months.