Prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019: a meta-analysis
Journal | Volume 83 - 2020 |
Issue | Fasc.4 - Case series |
Author(s) | E. Merola 1, F. Armelao 1, G. de Pretis 1 |
Full article |
PAGES 603-615 VIEW FREE PDF |
Affiliations: (1) Department of Gastroenterology, Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari di Trento (APSS), Trento, Italy
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Background and study aims: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic infection spreading worldwide at an unprecedented rate. Our aim was to assess the frequency of gastrointestinal (GI) involvement in COVID-19. Patients and methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all studies reporting clinical data about COVID-19 patients, published until 25th March 2020. The primary endpoint was the pooled prevalence of COVID-19 patients complaining of GI symptoms. Secondary endpoints were the pooled prevalence of cases with COVID-19 positive stool samples, and of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. We used random-effects model for meta- analysis. Results: Thirty-three studies were included in the meta- analysis. Out of 4434 COVID-19 patients, the pooled prevalence of GI manifestations was 11.51% (95% CI : 8.16 to 15.35). The most frequent GI symptom was diarrhea (7.78% of cases ; 95% CI : 5.05 to 11.04), followed by nausea/vomiting (3.57% ; 95% CI : 1.87 to 5.80), poor appetite (2.39% ; 95%CI : 0.55 ; 5.46) and abdominal pain (0.78% ; 95% CI : 0.26 to 1.57). Positivity for COVID-19 in stool samples was observed in 41.50% (95% CI : 17.70 to 67.65) of cases. 11.85% (95% CI : 3.53 to 24.17) of COVID-19 patients remained asymptomatic. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis shows that a significant proportion of COVID-19 patients suffer from GI manifestations, as well as COVID-19 positivity in stool samples. Asymptomatic patients need to be considered a further potential route of viral transmission. Keywords: COVID-19, gastrointestinal symptoms, fecal-oral viral transmission, asymptomatic patients. |
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. |
© Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica. PMID 33321018 |