NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A team of New York researchers have found a patient's insurance status may increase or decrease the likelihood that the patient's appendix will burst.

The scientists wrote in The Journal of the American College of Surgeons that they used New York state data from 2003 and 2004 that included 26,637 appendicitis patients, including 7,969 cases where the appendix ruptured, to find race was not a significant factor in appendix bursting, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported Tuesday.

However, significant effects were found when comparing insurance policies, or the lack thereof, of the patients. Medicare users were 14 percent more likely to suffer a burst appendix than those with private coverage and people using Medicaid were 22 percent more likely. Uninsured patients were 18 percent more likely to experience perforation than privately insured people.

“Because this is a retrospective study, we can only document that the disparities exist,” said Dr. Fredric Pieracci, lead author of the study and a surgical resident at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. “We can’t explain them. But other studies have identified one of the main reasons is fear of financial repercussions. There can still be inadequate coverage with public insurance as opposed to private insurance.”