According to a new Gastro Hep Advances study, 20% of all COVID-19 patients have gastrointestinal symptoms, and these patients experience worse in-hospital complications than those without GI symptoms.
Published by Drs. Nikil Patil, Pankush Kalgotra, Suneha Sundaram, Stephanie Melquist, Sravanthi Parasa, Madhav Desai and Prateek Sharma, the study found that COVID-19 patients with GI symptoms (such as vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain) experienced higher rates of comorbidities, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis and acute kidney injury. Among those with GI symptoms, older age, higher Charlson comorbidity index scores, and use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) or H2 receptor antagonists (H2RA) were associated with higher mortality, ARDS, sepsis and ventilator or oxygen requirement.
Read the full study, Factors Associated with Poor Outcomes Among COVID-19 Patients with Gastrointestinal Symptoms, in Gastro Hep Advances.
