20-Year Trends in the Management of Diverticulitis Across New York State: an Analysis of 265,724 Patients

Introduction: Management of acute diverticulitis (AD) has considerably changed over time. This study evaluates practice patterns for diverticulitis across demographic populations in New York State. Methods: Two hundred sixty-five thousand seven hundred twenty-four patients with acute diverticulitis were analyzed from 1995 to 2014 from the New York-Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database. The likelihood of having surgery over time was compared across patient demographic subgroups using logistic regression models to calculate estimated odds ratio with their 95 % confidence intervals. Using Chi-square test and Welch’s t test, categorical and continuous variables were compared. Results: From 1995 to 2014, there was an increase in newly diagnosed diverticulitis patients while the proportion of those patients undergoing operative management steadily decreased (31 to 10 %, p < 0.0001). Of those receiving surgery, emergent surgeries decreased (58 to 47 %, p < 0.0001) while elective surgeries increased (42 to 53 %, p < 0.0001) with the odds of having emergency surgery decreasing by 4 % annually (OR 0.96 (0.95–0.97), p < 0.0001). With the exception of patients greater than 80 years old, these linear trends were substantiated across patient subgroups. Conclusions: Over the past 20 years in New York State, there has been an increase in diverticulitis diagnoses and hospital admissions, with a decrease in surgeries performed reflecting a shift towards conservative management and more effective antibiotic treatment.