Appendectomies were the most common noncircumcision surgery performed during hospital inpatient stays on children aged 0-17 years in 2012, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
With a rate of 103/100,000 population in 2012, appendectomy procedures were just over four times more common than the next procedure, cesarean section (25/100,000). The procedure rate for partial bone excision was 21/100,000, and treatment of a fractured or dislocated hip or femur and tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy were both 20.
The number of cesarean sections, appendectomies, and fractured or dislocated hip or femur surgeries decreased significantly from their 2000 level; tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy procedures remained steady. The number of partial bone excisions increased dramatically, however, rising more than 300% from 2000 to 2012.
Circumcisions were, by far, the most common surgery performed on children, however – a rate of 1,441 hospital stays per 100,000 in 2012, nearly 14 times higher than that of appendectomies. The circumcision rate represents a nearly 10% drop from 2000, though, when it was 1,593/100,000.
The AHRQ report used data collected by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database.
