Gastrointestinal manifestations of COVID-19: An updated systematic review
O R Alzahrani1,2, A D Alanazi3, Y M Hawsawi4,5
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Lack of knowledge about the type and prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms as a clinical manifestation is one of the reasons for delayed diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients. This review study aimed to systematically review the type and prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in COVID-19 patients. To study the gastrointestinal manifestations of COVID-19, we used the 06- PRISMA registered in the CAMARADES-NC3Rs Preclinical Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Facility (SyRF) database. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases were searched for publications on the gastrointestinal manifestations of COVID-19 with no publication time frame. Articles were found using the following terms and search strategy: ["COVID-19, Coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, Clinical SymptomsGastrointestinal or gastric or intestinal manifestations"]. Out of 27652 papers, 35 papers on a total of 6730 COVID-19 patients up to 2022 met the inclusion criteria. Remarkably, most articles (28 papers, 77.8%) were from China (77.8%). The most common gastrointestinal manifestations were nausea or vomiting (13.1%), diarrhea (11.05%), anorexia (8.7%), and abdominal pain (2.4%), respectively. The findings of the present review revealed that contrary to what was initially assumed in the COVID-19 outbreak, this infection does not manifest only as respiratory symptoms but also as gastrointestinal symptoms. Therefore, clinicians and gastroenterologists must be alert to these unusual cases and fecal-oral transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic and implement preventive strategies.
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