Prevalence and Severity of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in COVID-19 Patients in Casablanca: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is behind the current pandemic. At the start of the pandemic, gastrointestinal symptoms initially described as rare were reported, but their spread to other countries increased rapidly. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of digestive symptoms among COVID-19 patients and to assess the correlation between these symptoms and disease severity. Methods This retrospective observational study was conducted in the Cheikh Khalifa University Hospital of Casablanca, Morocco. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of gastrointestinal symptoms upon initial assessment and hospital admission. Results A total of 154 patients were included in this study from March 21 to April 26, 2020. The mean age of patients was about 48.5 (± 20.0) years, and 85 (55.2%) of them were men. In our population, 8.17% of patients had toxic habits. Digestive symptoms were present at admission in 30% of our patients. The most frequent digestive symptoms were diarrhea (15%), abdominal pain (5.6%), vomiting (5%), and anorexia (3.1%). We found a significant difference in COVID-19 patients with digestive symptoms and toxic habits contrary to all other comorbidities. Neurologic symptoms were significantly associated (p=0,004) with digestive symptoms in 50%. Conclusion In this study, we found that digestive symptoms were present in 22.64% of patients diagnosed with COVID-9. The clinician must know the different digestive symptoms to evoke the diagnosis and take charge of the patient early.