Faculty Collaboration Database

Digestive Manifestations in Patients Hospitalized With Coronavirus Disease 2019. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2021 Jul;19(7):1355-1365.e4

Date

10/04/2020

Pubmed ID

33010411

Pubmed Central ID

PMC7527302

DOI

10.1016/j.cgh.2020.09.041

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85101865891 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   55 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The prevalence and significance of digestive manifestations in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain uncertain. We aimed to assess the prevalence, spectrum, severity, and significance of digestive manifestations in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

METHODS: Consecutive patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were identified across a geographically diverse alliance of medical centers in North America. Data pertaining to baseline characteristics, symptomatology, laboratory assessment, imaging, and endoscopic findings from the time of symptom onset until discharge or death were abstracted manually from electronic health records to characterize the prevalence, spectrum, and severity of digestive manifestations. Regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between digestive manifestations and severe outcomes related to COVID-19.

RESULTS: A total of 1992 patients across 36 centers met eligibility criteria and were included. Overall, 53% of patients experienced at least 1 gastrointestinal symptom at any time during their illness, most commonly diarrhea (34%), nausea (27%), vomiting (16%), and abdominal pain (11%). In 74% of cases, gastrointestinal symptoms were judged to be mild. In total, 35% of patients developed an abnormal alanine aminotransferase or total bilirubin level; these were increased to less than 5 times the upper limit of normal in 77% of cases. After adjusting for potential confounders, the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms at any time (odds ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.76-1.15) or liver test abnormalities on admission (odds ratio, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.80-2.12) were not associated independently with mechanical ventilation or death.

CONCLUSIONS: Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, gastrointestinal symptoms and liver test abnormalities were common, but the majority were mild and their presence was not associated with a more severe clinical course.

Author List

Elmunzer BJ, Spitzer RL, Foster LD, Merchant AA, Howard EF, Patel VA, West MK, Qayed E, Nustas R, Zakaria A, Piper MS, Taylor JR, Jaza L, Forbes N, Chau M, Lara LF, Papachristou GI, Volk ML, Hilson LG, Zhou S, Kushnir VM, Lenyo AM, McLeod CG, Amin S, Kuftinec GN, Yadav D, Fox C, Kolb JM, Pawa S, Pawa R, Canakis A, Huang C, Jamil LH, Aneese AM, Glamour BK, Smith ZL, Hanley KA, Wood J, Patel HK, Shah JN, Agarunov E, Sethi A, Fogel EL, McNulty G, Haseeb A, Trieu JA, Dixon RE, Yang JY, Mendelsohn RB, Calo D, Aroniadis OC, LaComb JF, Scheiman JM, Sauer BG, Dang DT, Piraka CR, Shah ED, Pohl H, Tierney WM, Mitchell S, Condon A, Lenhart A, Dua KS, Kanagala VS, Kamal A, Singh VK, Pinto-Sanchez MI, Hutchinson JM, Kwon RS, Korsnes SJ, Singh H, Solati Z, Willingham FF, Yachimski PS, Conwell DL, Mosier E, Azab M, Patel A, Buxbaum J, Wani S, Chak A, Hosmer AE, Keswani RN, DiMaio CJ, Bronze MS, Muthusamy R, Canto MI, Gjeorgjievski VM, Imam Z, Odish F, Edhi AI, Orosey M, Tiwari A, Patwardhan S, Brown NG, Patel AA, Ordiah CO, Sloan IP, Cruz L, Koza CL, Okafor U, Hollander T, Furey N, Reykhart O, Zbib NH, Damianos JA, Esteban J, Hajidiacos N, Saul M, Mays M, Anderson G, Wood K, Mathews L, Diakova G, Caisse M, Wakefield L, Nitchie H, Waljee AK, Tang W, Zhang Y, Zhu J, Deshpande AR, Rockey DC, Alford TB, Durkalski V, North American Alliance for the Study of Digestive Manifestations of COVID-19

Authors

Kulwinder S. Dua MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
James Esteban MD Assistant Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Zachary Smith DO Associate Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Female
Gastrointestinal Diseases
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
North America
Young Adult