Analysis of COVID-19 and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An In-Depth Literature Review

Author(s): Rupalakshmi Vijayan, Shavy Nagpal, Syed Adeel Hassan, Isha Mehta, Kazi Anwar, Charmy Parikh, Kuchalambal Agadi, Osama Odeh, Alvina Karam, Charitha Koneru, Siva Keerthana Suddapalli, Medha Rajamanuri, Own Khraisat, Miguel Diaz, Guerra Del Castillo, Roberto, Garcia Deborah, Sima Mirzban

Introduction: The world is experiencing some of the most complex consequences of the pandemic, with an accelerated growth of cases and deaths and a huge burden for the health systems, especially in immunocompromised individuals. In the healthcare system, the extent of impact of COVID-19 in patients with chronic diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) need its scientific attention.

Methods: An extensive literature search was done using ‘COVID –19’, ‘SARS-CoV-2’, ‘IBD’ using google scholar, clinical trials.gov, and PubMed indexed journals.

Results: SARS-CoV-2 has been isolated in the duodenum and rectum, and a higher concentration of fecal calprotectin, a known inflammatory marker, has been found in infected patients with diarrhea compared with those without diarrhea (123.2 vs 17.3 μg/g; P < .001), suggesting that viral gut tropism could worsen inflammatory status and symptoms of IBD patient. In gist, symptoms experienced by IBD patients with COVID-19 are similar to those occurring in the general population, except for a higher percentage of diarrhea.

Conclusions: The aim of our study is to compare the incidence and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with IBD to the general population by using literature review. With increased risk of acquisition of COVID-19 in IBD patients, these patients can be asymptomatic or can present with typical symptoms of sore throat, fever, cough, dyspnea, sputum production, myalgia, fatigue, and headache.