CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND COURSE OF COVID-19 INFECTION IN PATIENTS WITH CELIAC DISEASE

Cumhur Artuk^{1, *}, Necati Balamtekin², Melike Arslan², Harun Erdal³

¹University of Health Sciences, Gülhane Training and Research Hospital Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Ankara - ²University of Health Sciences, Gülhane Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Ankara - ³University of Health Sciences, Gülhane Training and Research Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Ankara

Objectives: Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease in which immune dysregulation plays a major role in the etiopathogenesis. Similarly, immune dysregulation and intense inflammation due to excessive cytokine storm are blamed for the etiopathogenesis of COVID-19. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical presentation and symptoms of COVID-19, as well as the course of the disease in people with CD.

Methods: Patients with CD who were diagnosed with COVID-19 by a PCR test were included in the study. COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, cough, dyspnea, tachycardia, muscle aches, headache, loss of taste and smell, diarrhea and abdominal pain, were determined. The severity of the clinical course of the disease was classified as mild, moderate, moderate to severe and severe. 

Results: Of the 57 patients included in the study,47 (82.5%) were female and 10 (17.5%) were male. The most common complaints were myalgia (82.5%, n:47), headache (64.9%, n:37), loss of taste and smell (63.2%, n:36), fever (43.9%, n: 25) and cough (36.8%, n:21). The level of infection of 82.5% (n:47) of the patients was mild with home isolation, moderate with hospitalization for 8.8% (n:5), moderate to severe for 7% (n:4) and severe with treatment in intensive care for 1.8% (n:1).

Conclusions: COVID-19 in patients with CD most frequently presented with myalgia, headache, and loss of taste and smell. The rate of loss of taste and smell in patients with CD was significantly higher than those reported in the normal population.The CD does not pose an extra risk to patients during the clinical course of COVID-19, and growing concerns about their increased likelihood of catching COVID-19 and that the disease will be severe are unfounded.