Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are associated with more severe COVID-19 and worse outcomes, two research teams have reported, a reversal of earlier data that suggested the opposite was true. One team reviewed 38 earlier studies of a total of more than 8,400 patients and found those with diarrhea were 63% more likely to develop severe COVID-19. Dr. Subash Ghimire of Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Pennsylvania suggested that patients with diarrhea may have higher viral loads, which can potentially lead the body to fight back with more severe responses. The other team studied 921 patients and found that the roughly 22% with at least one GI symptom had higher rates of hospital and intensive-care unit admissions and greater need for mechanical ventilation. The more GI symptoms patients had, the more their risk for these outcomes increased, Dr. Darbaz Adnan of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago reported. He said doctors evaluating COVID-19 patients need to bear in mind that GI symptoms may signal a markedly higher risk of a worsened disease course. Both studies were presented at the American College of Gastroenterology virtual annual meeting. —Reuters Staff Source
