SARS-CoV-2 Gastrointestinal Infection Prolongs the Time to Recover From COVID-19

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Zhijie Xu¹  Meiwen Tang²  Ping Chen¹  Hongyu Cai¹  Fei Xiao¹ 

[1] Department of Infectious Diseases, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University;Guangdong Provincial key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University;Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center of Molecular Imaging, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University;Department of Hematology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    gastrointestinal infection;    adverse effect;    stool viral load;    alimentary tract;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2021.683551

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Objectives: We previously reported that SARS-CoV-2 infects the gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of SARS-CoV-2 GI infection on clinical outcomes of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: For this retrospective cohort study, 104 patients with COVID-19 were classified into a SARS-CoV-2 GI infection group and a non-infection group. The primary endpoint was the time of negative conversion of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory tract samples. The secondary outcome was the time of hospitalization for COVID-19. Results: Patients with SARS-CoV-2 GI infection had a longer duration of positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory tract samples (median 12.0 days [95% CI: 10.0–13.2] vs. 9.0 days [95% CI: 7.5–10.5]; HR 0.575 [95% CI: 0.386–0.857]; P = 0.003) and hospitalization (median 28.0 days [95% CI: 23.2–32.8] vs. 15.0 days [95% CI: 13.6–16.4]; HR 0.149 [95% CI: 0.087–0.252]; P < 0.001) than patients without SARS-CoV-2 GI infection. Subgroup analyses for sex, age, epidemiological history, clinical classification and antiviral treatment showed consistent results. Conclusion: Our study indicates that SARS-CoV-2 GI infection prolongs the duration of SARS-CoV-2 shedding and hospitalization in the patients with COVID-19. More attention should be paid to SARS-CoV-2 GI infection of COVID-19 and fecal SARS-CoV-2 RNA test should be completed in time.

【 授权许可】

CC BY