While only 5.1 percent of COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units had severe gastrointestinal complications, those patients had a mortality rate of 55.6 percent, according to a pre-proof study published in Gastroenterology.
Researchers examined patient data from 1,992 participants at 36 U.S. and Canada-based medical centers. The first 50 to 100 consecutive COVID-19 patients at each center were enrolled in the study. Exactly 878 patients were admitted to the ICU. About 5.1 percent (45) presented with severe GI complications, and 55.6 percent of those patients (25) died.
MedPage Today reported on the study Nov. 13. The publication spoke to Salmaan Jawaid, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who was not involved with the study. Dr. Jawaid said, "The current study was long overdue, as it gives us the most up-to-date and comprehensive depiction of severe gastrointestinal complications associated with COVID-19 infection."
Read the entire analysis here and the pre-proof study here.