The Impact of Gastrointestinal Health on the Omicron Variant Infection: from New-emerging and Pre-existing Gastrointestinal Injury

Objective: This study focused on the gastrointestinal complains in the Omicron variant infection and the related factors based on the basic gut health status. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to included participants infected with Omicron variant. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect their demographic characteristics, gastrointestinal health status, and clinical manifestation during the infection. Results: There were 11,484 questionnaires received from online platform. 7,929 questionnaires were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among them 4,225 (53.3%) were females and the mean age was 36.0±8.8 years old. In general, the proportion of GI complains in the Omicron variant infection was 31.4% (62.6% and 25.0% in participants with pre-existing gastrointestinal complains and those without, respectively). The participants with pre-existing gastrointestinal complains exhibited more severe clinical manifestations during infection compared to those without. Notably, the participants with gastrointestinal complains during the infection were associated with more severe clinical manifestations irrespective of the basic gut health status. Upper, rather than lower gastrointestinal complains were more closely associated with the severity of the clinical manifestations. Conclusion: Patients with gastrointestinal complains during the Omicron variant infection were potential to experience more severe clinical manifestations. Basic gastrointestinal health status is closely related with the incidence of gastrointestinal complains and the severity of the clinical manifestations.