Post Covid-pandemic mental health issues preceded a sequelae of acute
neu-ro-gastro-enteritis in otherwise healthy youth: a potential
dysbiosis
Abstract
Introduction/Objectives: neuro-gastroenteritis existed since
World-War-II dysen-tery outbreak, albeit mechanisms are yet ill-defined.
Similarly, the post‐ COVID‐19-syndrome is a growing problem. The
frequencies of neuro-gastrointestinal; gas-troesophageal-reflux (GERD),
the inflammatory-bowel-syndrome (IBS), and mental health is not clear.
Methods: we used descriptive analysis on stratified data obtained by
online questionnaire sent nationwide and analyzed by Statistical Package
for So-cial Sciences version 21 (SPSS: An IBM Company). Results:
revealed the frequency and associations of different factors in the
coexistence of the disorders in 2067 par-ticipants aged 18 to
>60 years old. The majority were Saudis (94.7%, n= 1957),
most were 18 - 29 years old (66%, n=1364) where young Saudi females
were 72.4%, (n=1496). Estimated 1099 (53.2%) were students, 428
(20.7%) were unemployed, and 540 (26.1%) were employed. Psychological
syndromes namely: anxiety (60.7%), stress (60.7%), and depression
(60.7%) were most frequent and preceded other dis-orders in 51%,
whereas IBS (48.7%) and GERD (36.3%) came 4th and 5th, respec-tively,
with the latter two appeared first in 33.9%, and 24.3% respectively.
In most respondents (59.2%, n=1178), the disorders first appeared
recently, 33.6% (n=669) reported during adult life, and only in 7.2%
(n=144) appeared in childhood (7.2%, n=144). Aggravating factors
reported in family history (32.9%, n=681) of which 476 (69.9%) was IBS
while 215(31.6%) and 175 (25.7%), respectively, were psycholog-ical
and GERD. However, only 18.3% respondents sought treatment (n=378) with
66 (3.2%) had colectomy or a colostomy bag while 58%, (n=1201) were
active outdoors. Disorders were significantly associated with age (P
value =.001); GERD with old age, IBS with 40-49 years, and psychological
disorders among youth. Conclusion: Thus, mental health and
neuro-gastroenteritis dominated young women while the IBS and GERD
occurred first in old and mid-ages, respectively. These have significant
im-plications in treatment strategies and microbiome restorage. Future
microbiome studies would reveal more insight into the mechanisms of
disorders.