A recent study shows that thousands of people who contracted COVID-19 subsequently suffered from multiple health problems relating to the digestive system.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Symptoms include a host of persistent digestive issues, such as acid reflux, stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea.
The study found that people infected with COVID, even those who had been mildly affected by it, were more likely to have stomach problems than those who had not been infected with COVID.
In the study, researchers compared the medical records of more than 154,000 U.S. veterans who contracted COVID with those of approximately 5.6 million veterans who did not contract the virus.
They found that 9,605 people who contracted COVID subsequently suffered from problems affecting the digestive system, pancreas or liver.
Researchers don’t yet know exactly why the stomach is affected by COVID.