(ANSA) – BOLOGNA – Over half a million people in Italy in the next few years could need treatment for gastroenterological diseases as a consequence of Covid. This is one of the data that emerges from the Gi-covid19 study, which has as its promoter and coordinator the Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology of the Irccs Policlinico Sant’Orsola di Bologna, directed by Professor Giovanni Barbara, and which included more than two thousand patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in 36 centers in 12 European countries. As for the results of the data relating to the acute phase of Covid-19, (recently published by the journal ‘The American Journal of Gastroenterology’), the researchers followed the hospitalized patients during hospitalization and for a month, highlighting that the symptoms gastrointestinal, such as nausea and diarrhea, occurred more frequently in this group (59.7%) than in the control group (43.2%). After one month of admission, the recovered patients continued to complain of nausea.
The researchers therefore concluded that Sars-Cov-2 infection can lead to persistent gastrointestinal dysfunction for up to a month. The research did not stop and analyzed patients one year after hospitalization, (part of the results previewed in the USA at Digestive Disease Week), showing that 3.2% develop persistent digestive symptoms, not present before infection, consistent with the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome; this disorder is characterized by the presence of abdominal pain and alterations of the hollow and could therefore fall within the clinical spectrum of Long-covid. Considering that in Italy there are 17 million people who have fallen ill with Covid, the data suggest that in the next few years there may be over half a million patients to be treated for gastroenterological diseases. The final results of the Gi-covcid19 study will be presented at the IBS Days 2022 International Congress, which will be held from 20 to 22 June 2022 in Bologna at Palazzo Re Enzo and will see the participation of the world‘s leading experts on the subject. (HANDLE).
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