Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis
Background Acute appendicitis is a common surgical emergency, with diagnostic challenges that can lead to unnecessary surgeries. This study aims to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Appendicitis Inflammatory Response (AIR) score and the Alvarado score in a clinical setting, examining the influe...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Discover STM Publishing Ltd
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sjemed.com/?mno=201077 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850099418907279360 |
|---|---|
| author | Sawsan Hanafi Noura Alshareef Wesam Edrees Jamil M. Baljoon Faris Salah Abunar |
| author_facet | Sawsan Hanafi Noura Alshareef Wesam Edrees Jamil M. Baljoon Faris Salah Abunar |
| author_sort | Sawsan Hanafi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
Acute appendicitis is a common surgical emergency, with diagnostic challenges that can lead to unnecessary surgeries. This study aims to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Appendicitis Inflammatory Response (AIR) score and the Alvarado score in a clinical setting, examining the influence of demographic variables on their performance.
Methods
A retrospective analysis was conducted on 166 patients at National Guard Health Affairs Hospital, Saudi Arabia, from May 2016 to April 2022. Patients were categorized into two groups: 83 with appendicitis and 83 with acute abdominal symptoms but without appendicitis. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the AIR and Alvarado scores through risk probability of developing appendicitis, sensitivity, and specificity. We also examined the effects of age and gender on the scores' accuracy.
Results
The AIR score demonstrated higher overall sensitivity (95.7%) and specificity (90.5%) than the Alvarado score, which showed a sensitivity of 87.3% and a specificity of 52.4%. The AIR score was particularly effective in identifying patients with a high probability of appendicitis. Subgroup analysis revealed significant demographic influences, with men showing higher incidence rates of appendicitis and age impacting the scoring accuracy than women.
Conclusions
Our study's findings advocate for the AIR score's expanded use in clinical practice to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient management tailored to demographic variations. Further validation in varied clinical settings and larger cohorts is recommended. [SJEMed 2025; 6(1.000): 021-026] |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f23eb15a2fb54203ac2d4fbe9f88c0dc |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1658-8487 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Discover STM Publishing Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-f23eb15a2fb54203ac2d4fbe9f88c0dc2025-08-20T02:40:29ZengDiscover STM Publishing LtdSaudi Journal of Emergency Medicine1658-84872025-03-016102102610.24911/SJEMed.72-1715278407201077Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult AppendicitisSawsan Hanafi0Noura Alshareef1Wesam Edrees2Jamil M. Baljoon3Faris Salah Abunar4Emergency Department, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Quality Management Department, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Saudi Arabia Emergency Department, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Emergency Department, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaBackground Acute appendicitis is a common surgical emergency, with diagnostic challenges that can lead to unnecessary surgeries. This study aims to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Appendicitis Inflammatory Response (AIR) score and the Alvarado score in a clinical setting, examining the influence of demographic variables on their performance. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 166 patients at National Guard Health Affairs Hospital, Saudi Arabia, from May 2016 to April 2022. Patients were categorized into two groups: 83 with appendicitis and 83 with acute abdominal symptoms but without appendicitis. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the AIR and Alvarado scores through risk probability of developing appendicitis, sensitivity, and specificity. We also examined the effects of age and gender on the scores' accuracy. Results The AIR score demonstrated higher overall sensitivity (95.7%) and specificity (90.5%) than the Alvarado score, which showed a sensitivity of 87.3% and a specificity of 52.4%. The AIR score was particularly effective in identifying patients with a high probability of appendicitis. Subgroup analysis revealed significant demographic influences, with men showing higher incidence rates of appendicitis and age impacting the scoring accuracy than women. Conclusions Our study's findings advocate for the AIR score's expanded use in clinical practice to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient management tailored to demographic variations. Further validation in varied clinical settings and larger cohorts is recommended. [SJEMed 2025; 6(1.000): 021-026]https://sjemed.com/?mno=201077keywords: appendicitisdiagnosisair scorealvarado score |
| spellingShingle | Sawsan Hanafi Noura Alshareef Wesam Edrees Jamil M. Baljoon Faris Salah Abunar Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine keywords: appendicitis diagnosis air score alvarado score |
| title | Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis |
| title_full | Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis |
| title_fullStr | Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis |
| title_short | Comparative Diagnostic Accuracy of Appendicitis Inflammatory Response and Alvarado Scores in Adult Appendicitis |
| title_sort | comparative diagnostic accuracy of appendicitis inflammatory response and alvarado scores in adult appendicitis |
| topic | keywords: appendicitis diagnosis air score alvarado score |
| url | https://sjemed.com/?mno=201077 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sawsanhanafi comparativediagnosticaccuracyofappendicitisinflammatoryresponseandalvaradoscoresinadultappendicitis AT nouraalshareef comparativediagnosticaccuracyofappendicitisinflammatoryresponseandalvaradoscoresinadultappendicitis AT wesamedrees comparativediagnosticaccuracyofappendicitisinflammatoryresponseandalvaradoscoresinadultappendicitis AT jamilmbaljoon comparativediagnosticaccuracyofappendicitisinflammatoryresponseandalvaradoscoresinadultappendicitis AT farissalahabunar comparativediagnosticaccuracyofappendicitisinflammatoryresponseandalvaradoscoresinadultappendicitis |