GI symptoms as early signs of COVID-19 in hospitalised Italian patients

In their recent publication in Gut , Lin et al report 11% of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) to present at admission with GI symptoms1; early observations reported that COVID-19 could present with GI symptoms in 3% of patients.2 3 Diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and/or abdominal pain or discomfort have been described at disease onset or even before respiratory symptoms.4–7 We investigated all consecutive individuals suspected to harbour COVID-19 and admitted at the General Hospital of Crema between 21 February and 13 March 2020 to assess prevalence and features of GI symptoms in COVID-19 patients and their correlation with medical history, disease course and outcome. All suspected individuals admitted to the hospital underwent a standardised work-up. Based on clinical, laboratory and radiological findings, patients were discharged to quarantine or hospitalised. Demographic data, date of onset and type of symptoms at admission, including GI symptoms (as either nausea, or vomiting or diarrhoea or abdominal pain), and hospitalisation …