World J Gastroenterol. 2020 Oct 7;26(37):5534-5542.doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i37.5534.

Keith Sultan ¹, Anjali Mone ², Laura Durbin ³, Samreen Khuwaja ⁴, Arun Swaminath ⁵

Author information

• ¹Division of Gastroenterology, Northwell Health, North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Great Neck, NY 10021, United States.
• ²Department of Gastroenterology, Northwell Health, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY 10075, United States.
• ³Department of Medicine, Northwell Health, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY 10075, United States.
• ⁴Department of Medicine, Northwell Health, Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital, Queens, NY 11375, United States. ksultan@northwell.edu.
• ⁵Division of Gastroenterology, Northwell Health, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY 10075, United States.

Abstract

The first cases of a novel corona virus infection were reported in Wuhan China in December of 2019, followed by the declaration of an international pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Early reports of the virus, now known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and its clinical disease coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has shown higher rates of morbidity and mortality in the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Of particular concern is the safety of those with compromised immune systems. Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD) is itself caused by a disordered immune response, with the most effective medical therapies being immune suppressing or modifying. As such, the risk of COVID-19, virus related outcomes, and appropriate management of IBD patients during the global pandemic is of immediate concern to gastroenterologists worldwide. There has been a rapid accumulation of clinical data and expert opinion on the topic. This review will highlight the latest source information on clinical observation/outcomes of the IBD population and provide a concise summary of the most up to date perspectives on IBD management in the age of COVID-19.