Impact of the first wave of COVID-19 epidemy on the surgical management of sigmoid diverticular disease in France: National French retrospective study

Objective To analyze the surgical management of sigmoid diverticular disease (SDD) before, during, and after the first containment rules (CR) for the first wave of COVID-19. Methods From the French Surgical Association multicenter series, this study included all patients operated on between January 2018 and September 2021. Three groups were compared: A (before CR period: 01/01/18–03/16/20), B (CR period: 03/17/20–05/03/20), and C (post CR period: 05/04/20–09/30/21). Results A total of 1965 patients (A n = 1517, B n = 52, C n = 396) were included. The A group had significantly more previous SDD compared to the two other groups ( p = 0.007), especially complicated ( p = 0.0004). The rate of peritonitis was significantly higher in the B (46.1%) and C (38.4%) groups compared to the A group (31.7%) ( p = 0.034 and p = 0.014). As regards surgical treatment, Hartmann’s procedure was more often performed in the B group (44.2%, vs A 25.5% and C 26.8%, p = 0.01). Mortality at 90 days was significantly higher in the B group (9.6%, vs A 4% and C 6.3%, p = 0.034). This difference was also significant between the A and B groups ( p = 0.048), as well as between the A and C groups ( p = 0.05). There was no significant difference between the three groups in terms of postoperative morbidity. Conclusion This study shows that the management of SDD was impacted by COVID-19 at CR, but also after and until September 2021, both on the initial clinical presentation and on postoperative mortality.