The DICA endoscopic score and the CODA clinical score may predict the severity of acute diverticulitis and the risk of hospitalisation: results from an international multicentre prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND

We assessed whether baseline endoscopic and clinical scores of diverticular disease (DD) may predict the severity of acute diverticulitis (AD), hospital admission and length of hospital stay (HS).

METHODS

We conducted a 3-year, multicentre, prospective cohort study involving 2215 patients. DD was scored according to the Diverticular Inflammation and Complication Assessment (DICA) classification and the Combined Overview on Diverticular Assessment (CODA) score.

RESULTS

Higher baseline DICA and CODA scores were associated with increased risk of complicated AD [relative risk ratio (RRR) = 5.57; 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.42-9.09 and RRR = 5.17; 95% CI: 3.01-8.88, respectively]. An average HS of 4.62 days (95% CI: 2.93-6.27) for DICA 1, 5.57 days (95% CI: 4.29-6.85) for DICA 2 and 6.73 days (95% CI: 5.81-7.64) for DICA 3 was recorded; an average HS of 4.14 days (95% CI: 2.32-5.96) for CODA A, 5.12 days (95% CI: 3.67-6.56) for CODA B and 6.32 days (95% CI: 5.35-7.30) for CODA C was recorded.

CONCLUSIONS

DICA and CODA scores may predict the severity of AD and the length of the HS.