Introduction:

Children with SARS-CoV-2 infection represent 8.5% of the total reported cases, with fever and cough as the most frequent symptoms, although digestive manifestations have also been described.

Objective:

To update knowledge about digestive compromise in children with COVID-19.

Methods:

A bibliographic search was carried out in Medline and Web of Science databases, including systematic reviews, clinical trials, case-control studies, cohort studies, series and case reports, as well as their bibliographic references if they were relevant.

Analysis and synthesis of information:

196 articles were found and after careful review 57 were finally included. The prevalence of digestive manifestations varies between 0 and 88 %; the most frequent symptoms were: abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. Likewise, oral lesions and alteration of liver and pancreatic function occur, although with notable differences compared to the adult population. In cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, digestive manifestations are more frequent and can occur with severe abdominal pain simulating an acute surgical abdomen. Social isolation had a significant negative psychological impact, mainly in adolescents with the increase in the prevalence of functional digestive disorders.

Conclusions:

The digestive manifestations of COVID-19 occur more frequently in children in comparisson to adults, usually have a better prognosis and can be caused by direct effect of the virus, host response or associated with social isolation due to the pandemic.

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