Pediatric cholecystectomy case volume increased during COVID-19 pandemic

Editor's Note: 

Cholecystectomy case volume significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to study results published in ScienceDirect December 30.

While cholecystectomy is infrequently performed in children, the pandemic drove lifestyle changes, delays in healthcare access, and increases in childhood obesity. Further studies are needed to determine whether these braoder shifts impacted impacted pediatric gallbladder disease and the need for cholecystectomy, researchers note.

The retrospective study of children undergoing cholecystectomy from January 1, 2016, to July 31, 2022, at a tertiary children’s hospital. Differences in children undergoing cholecystectomy before and during the pandemic were identified using bivariate comparisons. An interrupted time series analysis identified differences in case volume trends. Highlights include:

• The number of cholecystectomies performed per month increased during the pandemic, and on interrupted time series analysis, there was a significant increase in month-to-month case count during the pandemic (P = .003).
• Children who underwent cholecystectomy during the pandemic had significantly higher body mass index (28.4 versus 25.8, P = .002), and obesity (body mass index >30) was more common (45.3% versus 31.7%, P = .001).
• During the pandemic, complicated biliary disease increased significantly. Although symptomatic cholelithiasis decreased (41.5% versus 61.8%, P < .001), the study noted increases in choledocholithiasis (17.9% versus 11.6%, P = .026), gallstone pancreatitis (17.4% versus 10.6%, P = .015), and chronic cholecystitis (4.7% versus 1.0%, P = .007).