Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2023; 29(19): 3013-3026
Published online May 21, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i19.3013
Gastrointestinal manifestations of long-term effects after COVID-19 infection in patients with dialysis or kidney transplantation: An observational cohort study
Wiwat Chancharoenthana, Supitcha Kamolratanakul, Asada Leelahavanichkul, Wassawon Ariyanon, Sutatip Chinpraditsuk, Rattanaporn Saelim, Somratai Vadcharavivad, Weerapong Phumratanaprapin, Polrat Wilairatana
Wiwat Chancharoenthana, Supitcha Kamolratanakul, Weerapong Phumratanaprapin, Polrat Wilairatana, Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Asada Leelahavanichkul, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Wassawon Ariyanon, Cardiometabolic Centre, Department of Medicine, Bangkok Nursing Hospital, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Sutatip Chinpraditsuk, Rattanaporn Saelim, Dialysis Center, Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Somratai Vadcharavivad, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Author contributions: Chancharoenthana W and Kamolratanakul S designed the research study; Chancharoenthana W, Kamolratanakul S, Ariyanon W, Chinpraditsuk S, and Saelim R performed the research and collected data; Chancharoenthana W, Kamolratanakul S, Ariyanon W, and Chinpraditsuk S analysed the data; Chancharoenthana W and Kamolratanakul drafted the manuscript. Chancharoenthana W, Kamolratanakul S, Leelahavanichkul A, Vadcharavivad S, Phumratanaprapin W, and Wilairatana P edited the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand (MUTM 2022-081-01).
Informed consent statement: Informed consent for participation in interviews was obtained either written or verbally over the phone from all participants in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Supitcha Kamolratanakul, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 420/6 Ratchawithi Rd, Thung Phaya Thai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand. supitcha.kam@mahidol.edu
Received: January 12, 2023
Peer-review started: January 12, 2023
First decision: February 4, 2023
Revised: February 13, 2023
Accepted: April 21, 2023
Article in press: April 21, 2023
Published online: May 21, 2023
Processing time: 123 Days and 13.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Prolonged symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) or prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 (Long-COVID) in dialysis-dependent patients and kidney transplant (KT) recipients are important as a possible risk factor for organ dysfunctions, especially gastrointestinal (GI) problems. In this study, we observed that a GI manifestation of Long-COVID is a frequent condition in patients with dialysis-dependence and kidney-transplant recipients. Long-COVID was significantly more prevalent in peritoneal dialysis patients than in hemodialysis patient or KT cases. We also found that patients who experienced either abdominal pain or diarrhea had a longer duration of other GI manifestations of Long-COVID, suggesting a need for closer observation of these patients during COVID-19 infection.