Acute appendicitis not associated with social class among children.

ABSTRACT

Acute appendicitis has previously been found to be associated with social class. In an attempt to confirm this, 125 patients with histologically verified acute appendicitis were compared with 1802 control children, randomly selected from the schools of the City of Helsinki. Social class determination was based on father's occupation in families with two parents, and on mother's occupation in single provider families. No association with social class was found. The proportion of single provider families was around 25% among both cases and controls. Appendicitis patients are one potential source of control groups in epidemiological studies.