EASTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, cilt.25, sa.4, ss.571-575, 2020 (Scopus)
Gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM) is defined as immigration of enteric or colonic mucosa within gastric lining.Gastric intestinal
metaplasia (GIM) is a premalign condition seen in gastric lining. It is prevalent in Asia and may lead to gastric carcinoma at a rate of
1% annually. COVID 19, which has been a global issue since late 2019, causes mostly respiratory symptoms; however, some patients
may present with gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting (5%) and abdominal pain ( 3.8%).We tried in this text to
handle any possible association between COVID 19 infection and GIM.
In this retrospective study we included 39 COVID 19 patients and 180 age-matched control subjects to compare rate of intestinal
metaplasia. All statistical analyses were performed with SAS software (SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.). The clinical and radiological
characteristics of patients were compared using Student's t-test.
Intestinal metaplasia was found in 11 (28%) of 39 patients while in 7 (3,9%) of 181 controls, which meant a statistical significance
(p<0,05). Of the 181 subjects, atrophy was found in 39 (21%) whereas it was noted in 9 (23%) of 39 patients, which yielded no
statistical significance (p>0,05).
We found that GIM is a premalignant condition that can lead to COVID 19 infection.