Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Oct;44(5):653-661.
doi: 10.1016/j.clinre.2020.04.012. Epub 2020 May 12.

The liver injury and gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with Coronavirus Disease 19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Haizhou Wang  1 , Peishan Qiu  1 , Jing Liu  2 , Fan Wang  3 , Qiu Zhao  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The liver injury and gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with Coronavirus Disease 19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Haizhou Wang et al. Clin Res Hepatol Gastroenterol. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Backgrounds: Since December 2019, novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)-infected pneumonia (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, and rapidly spread throughout China. Our study aimed to evaluate the association of liver injury and gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS) with the progression of COVID-19.

Methods: A comprehensive search was performed on the PubMed to identify eligible studies that summarized the liver injury and GIS in COVID-19.

Results: A total of 21 studies with 3024 patients were included. Up to 53% patients had liver dysfunctions and the degree of liver damage was associated the severity of the disease. The prevalence of diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting or abdominal pain in patients with COVID-19 were 9.1%, 5.2% and 3.5%, respectively. No significant was found in the prevalence of diarrhoea (OR, 1.24; 95%CI, 0.90 to 1.72; I2 = 0%, P = 0.19) and nausea/vomiting (OR, 1.24; 95%CI, 0.57 to 2.69; I2 = 61%, P = 0.58) between severe and non-severe patients. In addition, diarrhoea (OR, 1.22; 95%CI, 0.50 to 2.98; I2 = 0%, P = 0.66) and nausea/vomiting (OR, 1.09; 95%CI, 0.46 to 2.62; I2 = 0%, P = 0.84) were not associated with the prognosis of COVID-19 patients.

Conclusions: The incidences of GIS in patients with COVID-19 is relatively low and are not associated with the COVID-19 progression. Gastroenterologists should pay more attention to the liver injury induced by SARS-CoV-2 during the course of infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; Diarrhoea; Gastrointestinal symptoms; Liver injury; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the whole procedures in this meta-analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms. (a) diarrhoea; (b) nausea/vomiting; (c) abdominal pain.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot showed the odds ratio of diarrhoea (a) and nausea/vomiting (b) between severe and non-severe patients. M-H, Mantel–Haenszel; CI, confidence interval.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot showed the odds ratio of diarrhoea (a) and nausea/vomiting (b) between survival and non-survival patients. M-H, Mantel–Haenszel; CI, confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hui D.S., E I.A., Madani T.A. The continuing 2019-nCoV epidemic threat of novel coronaviruses to global health - The latest 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;91:264–266. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C., Wang Y., Li X. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395:497–506. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guan W.J., Ni Z.Y., Hu Y. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shi H., Han X., Jiang N. Radiological findings from 81 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020;20:425–434. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Xiao F., Tang M., Zheng X., Liu Y., Li X., Shan H. Evidence for gastrointestinal infection of SARS-CoV-2. Gastroenterology. 2020 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms