Severe acute respiratory syndrome‐related diarrhea

Abstract

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious disease and diarrhea has been reported in up to 76% of cases. The purpose of the present paper was to carry out a retrospective study of the clinical and demographic data of SARS patients with diarrhea in Princess Margaret Hospital. Methods: From 1 to 31 March 2003, hospital records from 240 patients with confirmed SARS were studied. Patients with watery stool of ≥3 times/day for at least 3 consecutive days were defined as the diarrhea group. Clinical and demographic data were compared between the diarrhea and non‐diarrhea groups. Chest X‐ray (CXR) scores during the peak of diarrhea period were recorded by a respiratory physician. These CXR scores were correlated with the peak frequency of diarrhea by Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results: Diarrhea occurred in 20.4% of patients after admission. Female patients were predominant with a female to male ratio of 6:1 (P < 0.001) and 69.4% of patients were living in Amoy Gardens Estate (P = 0.01). The proportions of patients requiring ventilatory care and mortality in the diarrhea group were 8.2% and 2%, respectively, which were significantly lower than those in the non‐diarrhea group (27.6% and 16.2%, P < 0.005). The CXR scores during the peak of diarrhea were not correlated with the maximum frequency of diarrhea (r = −0.09, P = 0.5). Conclusions: A total of 20.4% of SARS patients had the complication of diarrhea after hospital admission. Both female sex and being a resident of Amoy Gardens Estate were associated with diarrhea. The diarrhea group had a better prognosis.