Gastrointestinal bleeding in COVID-19-infected patients

COVID-19 infection is an ongoing catastrophic global pandemic with significant morbidity and mortality that affects most of the world population. Respiratory manifestations predominate and largely determine patient prognosis, but gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations also relatively frequently contribute to patient morbidity and occasionally affect mortality. GI bleeding is uncommon relative to both the COVID-19 infection prevalence and its other GI manifestations. GI bleeding is usually noted after hospital admission and is often one aspect of this multisystem infectious disease. The incidence of GI bleeding is reported at about 1.5% to 3%, with several reported statistical outliers. The widely reported variability in incidence is attributed to variable study designs (clinical series, case-controlled studies, retrospective studies, prospective studies, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews); and different criteria for GI bleeding; and different study populations (variable ethnicities, nationalities, comorbidities, patient vaccination history, and patient ages); and variable viral strains and study time-intervals. The first phase of the pandemic (March-May 2020) was characterized by high contagiousness, appreciable mortality, no available effective vaccinations, and few therapies. Also, early in the pandemic, all acute GI bleeders, especially with upper GI bleeding, underwent prophylactic endotracheal intubation, but this recommendation was withdrawn after a few months because...
Source: Gastroenterology Clinics of North America - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Source Type: research