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. 2020 Mar 31;51(9):843–851. doi: 10.1111/apt.15731

Table 1.

Gastrointestinal manifestations in patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection

  Date Region Total patients Age of affected patients average ± SD/median (range) Duration of diarrhoea Disease severity of patients with GI symptoms Gastrointestinal symptoms Patients with GI symptoms without respiratory symptoms Notes
Huang et al 5 16 December‐2 January Wuhan 41 49 (IQR 41‐58) y NA Non‐ICU Diarrhoea 1 (3%) NA Suggest to test faecal and urine samples to exclude a potential alternative route of transmission
Yang et al 6 Late December‐26 January Wuhan 52 59.7 ± 13.3 y NA All critically ill patients Gastrointestinal haemorrhage 2 (4%) NA
Vomiting 2 (4%)
Liu et al 7 1 January‐15 January Wuhan 6 children 3 (1‐7) y NA

1 critical case

5 mild‐moderate cases

Vomiting 4 (66.7%) NA
Chen et al 8 1 January‐20 January Wuhan 99 55.5 ± 13.1 y(21‐82) NA NA Diarrhoea 2(2%) NA
Nausea and vomiting 1(1%)
Wang et al 9 1 January‐28 January Wuhan 138 56 (22‐92) y NA 36 ICU 102 non‐ICU Anorexia 55 (39.9%)

14 (10.1%) patients initially presented with diarrhoea and nausea before typical symptoms of fever and dyspnoea

One patient presented with abdominal symptoms and was admitted to the surgical department, and infected more than 10 health care workers in this department and 4 hospitalised patients in the same ward

ICU patients were more likely to present anorexia and abdominal pain
Anorexia 24(66.7%) Anorexia 31(30.4%)
Diarrhoea 6 (16.7%) Diarrhoea 8 (7.8%) Diarrhoea 14 (10.1%)
Nausea 4 (11.1%) Nausea 10 (9.8%) Nausea 14 (10.1%)
Vomiting 3 (8.3%) Vomiting 2 (2.0%) Vomiting 5 (3.6%)
Abdominal pain 3 (8.3%) Abdominal pain 0 (0%) Abdominal pain 3 (2.2%)
Ping et al 10 17 January‐24 January Wuhan 9 35.8 (28‐45) y NA No critical cases Anorexia 6

All nine patients showed only digestive symptoms with no fever onset, and four patients never had respiratory symptoms or fever

The time between initial nonspecific and specific symptoms was 2‐5 d

Digestive symptoms occurred 1‐3 days (median 2.1 d) before the patients’ visit

Nausea 1
Vomiting 1
Diarrhoea 1
Wei et al 11 23 January‐8 February Wuhan 20 children 2 years and 1.5 mo (1 d‐14 y 7 mo) NA All the patients had good prognosis Diarrhoea 3 (15%) NA
Vomiting 2 (10%)
Fang et al 4 27 January‐14 February Wuhan 305 57 (18‐95) y 4.1 ± 2.5 d (1‐14) 46 critical cases 259 noncritical cases Diarrhoea 146/295 (49.5%) NA

Diarrhoea appeared 1‐8 d after onset, with a median time of 3.3 d

The frequency of diarrhoea was up to nine times per day, median of (3.3 ± 1.6) times per day, 34.3% were watery stools

55.2% (58/105) of patients had diarrhoea after drugs estimating 22.2% of the patients had nondrug‐related diarrhoea

Digestive symptom 17/20 (85.0%) Digestive symptom 142/181 (78.5%) Loss of appetite 101/201 (50.2%)
Nausea 59/201 (29.4%)
Diarrhoea 17/38 (44.7%) Diarrhoea 129/257 (50.2%) Vomiting 32/201 (15.9%)
Abdominal pain 12/201 (6.0%)
Chang et al 12 16 January‐29 January Beijing 13 34 (IQR 34 ‐48) y NA NA Diarrhoea 1 (7.7%) NA
Guan et al 13 11 December‐29 January 30 provinces 1099 47 (IQR 35 ‐58) y NA 173 Severe 926 Nonsevere Nausea or vomiting 55 (5.0%) NA
Nausea and vomiting 12 (6.9%) Nausea and vomiting 43 (4.6%)
Diarrhoea 10 (5.8%) Diarrhoea 32 (3.5%) Diarrhoea 42(3.8%)
Xu et al 14 10 January‐26 January Zhejiang province 62 41(IQR 32‐52) y >10 d 1 critical case Diarrhoea 3 (5%) NA Three patients showed diarrhoea at onset
Song et al 15 20 January‐27 January Shanghai 51 49 ± 16 y (16‐76) NA NA Diarrhoea 5 (10%) NA
Nausea and vomiting 3 (6%)
Hu et al 16 28 January‐9 February Nanjing 24 asymptomatic onset cases

32.5 (5‐59) y

5 cases <15 y

NA All cases were mild‐moderate Diarrhoea 2 (8.3%) NA Diarrhoea was considered as a reaction of drugs
Wang et al 17 25 January‐21 February Six provinces in North 31 children 7 y 1 mo, (6 mo‐17 y) NA All cases were asymptomatic or mild‐moderate Diarrhoea 3 (9.6%) Three cases had diarrhoea and one case had vomiting as the first symptom without fever or cough Three cases with diarrhoea were yellow thin faeces, two to six times per day, and no symptoms of dehydration and electrolyte disturbance
Vomiting 2 (6.5%)
Xiao et al 18 1 February‐14 February Guangzhou 73 10 mo‐78 y NA NA Diarrhoea 26 (35.6%) NA

17/26 (65.4%) patients with diarrhoea were stool PCR positive

4/10 (40%) patients with gastrointestinal bleeding were stool PCR positive

Gastrointestinal bleeding 10 (13.7%)

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