Abstract

Objective: To describe the role of Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms as a diagnosis and/or prognosis in COVID-19. Method: Narrative literature review performed in March 2020 following the PRISMA method. Results: A total of 285 articles were found in Pubmed and Scielo databases, of which 260 were excluded, 25 analyzed in full and nine included in the review. Gastrointestinal symptoms are very prevalent, present in 58.91% of surveyed patients. The most prevalent symptom was nausea, present in 34.41% of patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, followed by vomiting (22.20%) and diarrhea (15.69%). Conclusion: Considering the scarcity of information produced so far, was reached the conclusion that the role of gastrointestinal symptoms as a diagnosis/prognosis in COVID-19 cannot be established.

Keywords: COVID-19; Sars-Cov-2; Gastrointestinal symptoms; Diarrhea; Nausea; Vomiting; Anorexia; Abdominal pain

Abbreviations: WHO: World Health Organization; SARSL: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome; MERS: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; ACE2: Angiotensin 2 Converting Enzyme; TMPRSS2: Transmembrane Protein Serine; GI: Gastrointestinal; COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; SAH: Systemic Arterial Hypertension; GERD: Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease; ICU: Intense Care Unit