Bowel movement patterns in children with acute appendicities

Acute appendicitis is currently one of the most important causes of acuteabdominal peritonitis and emergency laparatomy. Despite its low mortality, it remains acause of concern for surgeons due to the postoperative complications of wound infection,sepsis, intrabdominal abscess and even bowel obstruction resulting from adhesions. Highincidence of acute appendicitis provides a strong impetus for further studies. This studywas conducted to determine the bowel movement patterns and dietary fiber consumptionin pediatric patients with appendicitis in Shiraz, southern Iran. The study included 202 pediatric patients under the age of 18 years at NemazeeHospital affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, who had undergone appendectomywith the preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis from March 2003to March 2004.Using a written semi-standard questionnaire, the variables recorded were age, gender,stool consistency, number of bowel movements, type of bread consumed, habit of fruit andvegetable consumption, clinical presentation (signs and symptoms) and the time takenfrom the onset of symptoms to arrival in hospital, the date of patients admission to theemergency room to the time of surgery, and the duration of postoperative hospitalization.The pathology of appendicitis was clarified and recorded. The patients aged from 3–18 years (mean: 11.2±3.6 years), with a male to femaleratio of 2:4. Anorexia was the most common symptom, affecting 78.7% of patients.Of 31 patients with constipation, 58% did not report daily regular intake of fruits while theothers had regular fruit intake. Only 3 patients (9.7%) had regular daily consumption ofvegetables, and 27 patients (87.1%) had pathology reports of fecalith, while in the nonconstipatedpatients, only 1.2% had such reports. The abdominal pain was periumbilical inmany patients (42.6%), which shifted to McBurny po