No abstract

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Background: COVID-19 infection usually presents with respiratory symptoms. Many hospitalised patients of COVID-19 present with gastrointestinal symptoms which can alter the clinical outcomes of patients. Objectives: To characterise the gastrointestinal manifestations of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalisation and their correlation with disease severity and clinical outcomes. Methods: This was a single centre prospective, observational, cohort study done at Kathmandu Medical College, a tertiary health care centre after ethical clearance. All consecutive hospitalised patients with COVID-19 disease admitted during May and June 2021 were included in the study after ethical clearance. Diagnosis of COVID-19 infection was done by RT-PCR. Gastrointestinal symptoms of abdominal pain, aguesia, nausea/vomiting, and diarrhoea were recorded on hospital admission and outcomes accessed at discharge. Data were analysed using SPSS v.24. Results: A total of 196 consecutive adult patients with COVID-19 infection were included in study. Gastrointestinal symptoms were recorded in 48 (24.5%) patients. The most frequent symptom was nausea/vomiting (23, 11.7%) followed by aguesia (19, 9.7%), diarrhoea (14, 7.1%), and abdominal pain (8, 4.1%). There was no significant association between duration of hospital stay and presence of gastrointestinal symptoms (10.15 vs 10.95 days; p = 0.481). No significance was seen on association of gastrointestinal symptoms with ICU admission and mortality but requirement of mechanical ventilation was significantly higher in patients without symptoms (10.4 vs 23.6%; p = 0.048). Conclusion: Significant proportion of patients with COVID-19 infection can have gastrointestinal manifestations. Presences of these symptoms do not have any association with the final clinical outcome of the patient.

No abstract

Eosinophilic gastritis (EG) is characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of any gastric layers. We report a 65-year-female presenting with abdominal pain and vomiting for two months. In the absence of atopy and peripheral eosinophilia, successful treatment of a large solitary antral ulcer with steroids upheld the diagnosis of EG.