Impact of COVID‐19 lockdown on symptoms in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders: Relationship with anxiety and perceived stress

Oliviero, Giovanni; Ruggiero, Luigi; D’Antonio, Elvira; Gagliardi, Mario; Nunziata, Rubino; Di Sarno, Alessandro; Abbatiello, Carmelina; Di Feo, Elvira; De Vivo, Simona; Santonicola, Antonella; Iovino, Paola

BACKGROUND: Psychological stress and anxiety, such those generated by forced quarantine, affect gastrointestinal symptoms course in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders. Thus, our aim was to assess, in a cohort of patients regularly followed up in a devoted outpatient clinic of Southern Italy, the association between their gastrointestinal symptoms changes, stress, and anxiety reported during the Italian lockdown. METHODS: We recruited patients from the outpatient clinic of the University of Salerno, devoted to functional gastrointestinal disorders, selecting only patients for whom an evaluation was available in the last 6 months before the lockdown. Gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated at each visit through standardized questionnaire and pooled in a database. On 45th days from the beginning of the lockdown, patients were re‐assessed by phone with the same questionnaire. Anxiety and stress levels were assessed through a self‐administered online questionnaire based on Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 test and Perceived Stress Scale 10 test. KEY RESULTS: The intensity‐frequency scores of several upper gastrointestinal symptoms improved (Wilcoxon test <0.05). Higher anxiety levels had a higher risk of worsening chest pain (OR 1.3 [1.1–1.7]), waterbrash (OR 1.3 [1.0–1.7]), epigastric burning (OR 1.3 [1.0–1.6]), and abdominal pain (OR 1.6 [1.0–2.3]). When compared to the interval preceding the outbreak, half of the patients declared their symptoms remained unchanged, 13.6% worsened, and 36.4% improved. CONCLUSIONS AND INFERENCES: During the COVID‐19 quarantine, there was an improvement of the majority of upper gastrointestinal symptoms in our patients, and anxiety seems an important risk of worsening few of them.