BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis is a very common surgical emergency, but its etiology and pathology remain incompletely understood. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate epidemiological aspects of acute appendicitis related to skin color, gender and age. METHODS: Five-hundred patients operated on for acute appendicitis, and other 500 patients treated for different diseases and considered as a control group were studied at "Hospital das Clínicas", Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Gender, age and skin color were investigated. The results were compared by chi-square test. RESULTS: There was no prevalence related to gender. A significant prevalence of white patients (73.8%) was verified in this series. The number of white men with appendicitis was significantly higher than white men in the control group. The incidence of black patients with appendicitis was significantly lower than black patients of the control group. The mean age was 23.2 years old for the white patients with appendicitis and 32.3 years old for the black patients. CONCLUSIONS: The present paper shows an evident relation between appendicitis and white skin color.
Appendicitis; Skin pigmentation; Ethnic groups; Sex; Age groups
