Fecal Calprotectin Levels in COVID-۱۹ Patients with and without diarrhea

Objectives Since the start of the ۲۰۱۹ Coronavirus pandemic, pulmonary symptoms of cough and shortness of breath were primary diagnostical criteria. However, over time more light was shed on other complications caused by Cornovirus from mild symptoms to severe fatal involvement of multiple organs. Of those, gastrointestinal(GI) involvement included symptoms like nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Therefore, we used fecal calprotectin levels to investigate and distinguish between inflammatory and non-inflammatory gastrointestinal involvement in Coronavirus patients.Methods۳۰ patients with positive PCR for covid and GI symptoms were separated into two groups, with diarrhea or without diarrhea groups. All patients with a previous history of antibiotic use, inflammatory bowel disease, history of bowel cancer, and bacterial or parasite infection were excluded from the study. We measured fecal calprotectin in all patients and compared it in these two groups in terms of level and disease threshold.ResultsStatistical analysis found meaningful differences between these two groups in the amount of the calprotectin level(P<۰.۰۵). Patients with diarrhea had a much higher level of fecal calprotectin than patients without it. Tho, these two groups did not show a significant difference when ۵۰ mg/kg or above was considered abnormal, also, there was no meaningful distinguishable difference in these two groups of patients in clinical and paraclinical settings.Conclusion Based on our findings, gastrointestinal involvement with diarrhea in Covid disease is non inflammatory.

Keywords:

COVID ۵۲ , fecal Calprotectin , Diarrhea