Association Of Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Clinical Outcomes in Hospitalized Corona Disease 2019 Patients

Radouane R

Published on: 2023-06-08

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) poses a serious threat to global health. If the respiratory symptoms are at the forefront and condition the prognosis of the disease, the gastrointestinal symptoms initially described as rare are reported more and more frequently in the latest studies. Our work aimed to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal manifestations related to COVID 19 and their impact on the prognosis of the disease.

Materials And Methods: Prospective analytical descriptive study collecting 93 files of patients hospitalized for a COVID-19 infection confirmed by RT-PCR over a period ranging from October 28, 2021 to April 8, 2022. Data related to patient’s demographics, clinical symptoms, comorbidities, vitals at presentation, admission laboratory tests, and outcomes were collected the patients were divided into 2 groups to compare: Group I covid19 patients with digestive manifestations and Group II COVID 19 patients without digestive manifestations. Digestive manifestations were defined by the presence of at least one of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Results: 91 patients were included in the study with a male predominance in the two groups (Group I sex ratio = 3.25 vs Group II sex ratio = 3.06). Digestive manifestations were indicative of the disease in 37.4% of cases and isolated without respiratory signs in 2.19% of cases. The main digestive symptoms were diarrhea (25.3%), nausea (14.3%), vomiting (11%), acute abdominal pain (15.4%). By comparing the 2 groups, we found that young subjects (less than 50 years old) presented more digestive manifestations than elderly subjects (p=0.012). In terms of comorbidities and smoking, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The mean hospitalization time was 7 days for Group I compared to 9 days for Group II (p=0.114). A chest CT scan was performed in all patients and found a pulmonary embolism in 10 patients, 4 of whom had initially presented with acute abdominal pain of epigastralgia type with a statistically significant association found: (OR: 4.267, 95% CI (1.02-17.8), p 0.047). In terms of severity of lung involvement, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups (p=0.569). In terms of mortality, clinical severity of the disease, use of mechanical or non-invasive ventilation and even complications, we found no statistically significant difference between the two groups.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the digestive manifestations linked to COVID 19 occur mainly in young subjects and that their presence is nonspecific and not related to the severity of the disease and does not increase the mortality rate. In the end, it is suggested to eliminate pulmonary embolism in the face of acute abdominal pain complicated by respiratory distress.