Digestive symptoms in COVID-19 patients with mild disease
COVID-19: Digestive symptoms in COVID-19 patients with mild disease. Spencer EA, Heneghan C.
https://www.cebm.net/study/covid-19-digestive-symptoms-in-covid-19-patients-with-mild-disease/
Published on July 9, 2020
Included in
Transmission Dynamics of COVID-19
Reference |
Han C, Duan C, Zhang S, et al. Digestive symptoms in COVID-19 patients with mild disease severity: clinical presentation, stool viral RNA testing, and outcomes. Am J Gastroenterol. 2020;115(6):916-923. 2020 |
Study type |
|
Country |
China |
Setting |
Hospital |
Funding Details |
Non reported |
Transmission mode |
Orofecal |
Exposures |
|
Bottom Line
Among a group of hospitalised patients with low severity COVID-19, digestive symptoms were present in 57%. Patients with digestive symptoms were more likely to be fecal virus-positive than those with respiratory symptoms.
Evidence Summary
206 hospitalised patients diagnosed with low severity COVID-19 were identified, 117 of these presented with digestive symptoms.
Within the 117 experiencing digestive symptoms,
- 48 presented with a digestive symptom alone,
- 69 with both digestive and respiratory symptoms,
- 67 presented with diarrhoea, of whom 19.4% experienced diarrhoea as the first symptom in their illness course.
Diarrhoea lasted from 1 to 14 days, with an average duration of 5.4 days and a frequency of 4.3 bowel movements per day.
Concurrent fever was found in 62% of the patients with a digestive symptom. Patients with digestive symptoms presented for care later than those with respiratory symptoms (16.0 ± 7.7 vs 11.6 ± 5.1 days, P < 0.001).
Patients with digestive symptoms had a longer duration between symptom onset and viral clearance (P < 0.001) and were more likely to be fecal virus-positive (73.3% vs 14.3%, P = 0.033) than those with respiratory symptoms.
What did they do?
The researchers identified COVID-19 patients with mild disease and one or more digestive symptoms (diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting), with or without respiratory symptoms,
These COVID-19 cases were compared with a group presenting solely with respiratory symptoms. Patients were clinically followed up until they tested negative for COVID-19 on at least two sequential respiratory tract specimens collected ≥24 hours apart.
Clinical features between those with digestive symptoms and those with respiratory symptoms were compared.
Study reliability
This is a case series and maybe subject to biases.
Clearly defined setting |
Demographic characteristics described |
Follow-up length was sufficient |
Transmission outcomes assessed |
Main biases are taken into consideration |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No
|
No |
What else should I consider?
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 expression is higher in the small intestine, duodenum, and colon than that in the lungs
About the authors
Carl Heneghan
Carl is Professor of EBM & Director of CEBM at the University of Oxford. He is also a GP and tweets @carlheneghan. He has an active interest in discovering the truth behind health research findings
Elizabeth Spencer
Dr Elizabeth Spencer; MMedSci, PhD. Epidemiologist, Nuffield Department for Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.