<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><header style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><div class="release_date" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 23px; margin-bottom: -18px;">NEWS RELEASE <time datetime="1584504000" style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">18-MAR-2020</time></div><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 25px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.1; color: rgb(43, 43, 43); letter-spacing: -0.34px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Digestive symptoms are prominent among COVID-19 patients reveals study in The American Journal of Gastroenterology</span></h1><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 10px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(123, 123, 123);" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="meta_institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(43, 43, 43); transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">WOLTERS KLUWER HEALTH</p><div class="toolbar hidden-search hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"></div></header><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;" class=""><a href="https://journals.lww.com/ajg/Documents/COVID_Digestive_Symptoms_AJG_Preproof.pdf?PRID=AJG_PR_031820" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 136, 204); text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" class=""><i style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The American Journal of Gastroenterology</i> published today a new study that reveals digestive symptoms, including diarrhea, are common in COVID-19 patients.</a> The study comes from the Wuhan Medical Treatment Expert Group for COVID-19 in China.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;" class="">Nearly half of COVID-19 patients enrolled in the study conducted in the Hubei province of China presented digestive symptoms, such as diarrhea and anorexia, and cited it as their chief complaint. The study also reveals that patients with digestive symptoms had a longer gap between the onset of symptoms and hospital admission than patients presenting only respiratory symptoms and were less likely to be cured and discharged than those without digestive symptoms.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;" class="">The authors recommend that "the index of suspicion may need to be raised earlier in at-risk patients presenting with digestive symptoms rather than waiting for respiratory symptoms to emerge."</p><p align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;" class="">###</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;" class="">Point of contact: Brennan M. R. Spiegel, MD, MSHS, FACG, Co-Editor-in-Chief of <i style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The American Journal of Gastroenterology</i>; <a href="mailto:brennan.spiegel@cshs.org" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; color: rgb(0, 136, 204); text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" class="">brennan.spiegel@cshs.org</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;" class=""><i style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The American Journal of Gastroenterology</i> is the official publication of the American College of Gastroenterology and is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.</p></div></body></html>