Gastrointestinal tract symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019: Analysis of clinical symptoms in adult patients

Objective

To investigate the clinical presentation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), particularly the incidence of gastrointestinal tract symptoms.

Design

We enrolled adult COVID-19 patients from a mobile cabin hospital in Wuhan with a definitive diagnosis by SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in which the patient selected COVID-19-related symptoms and report the time of onset and duration of symptoms.

Results

A total of 212 adults were enrolled in this study, of which 127 (59.9%) were females, mean age was 48.50 ±13.15 (range: 17-79) years, and mean disease course was 26.78±9.16 (3-60) days. Fever and cough were the most common and earliest clinical symptoms of COVID-19.

Diarrhoea occurred in 43.8% (93/212) of patients, of which 86.0% (80/93) had mushy stools. Nausea and vomiting were also common (20.7%). Diarrhoea lasted for 4.00(2.00-8.85) days and mostly occurred 5.00(0.25-11.00) days after the emergence of the first symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis found that diarrhoea was significantly correlated with fatigue [OR2.900,95%CI (1.629-5.164), p<0.0001].

Conclusions

Gastrointestinal tract symptoms are common in COVID-19 and most occur during the middle stage of the disease and lasts for a short period of time. Clinicians need to pay greater attention to gastrointestinal tract symptoms of COVID-19.