101 women; median age was 47•5 years (range 7-90). The most common symptoms at onset of illness were fever (193 [84%] patients), cough (159 [69%] patients), and sputum production (98 [43%] patients). Diarrhoea was observed in 49 (21%) patients. Patients with diarrhoea were older and were more likely to have comorbidities than patients without diarrhoea (table). A greater proportion of patients admitted to hospital had diarrhoea as the outbreak progressed: nine (43%) of 21 patients admitted between Feb 12 and March 6, 2020, had diarrhoea versus 40 (19%) of 209 patients admitted between Jan 19 and Feb 11, 2020.More patients with diarrhoea showed severe symptoms of pneumonia hospitals in Guangdong province, two in Hubei province, and ten in Jiangxi province) between Jan 19, 2020, and March 6, 2020. Most patients were admitted because of fever, cough, dyspnoea, and chest CT findings consistent with COVID-19 pneumonia. Diagnosis of COVID-19 was based on positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA tests. Two patients with pre-existing digestive diseases were excluded from our analysis. The analysis was approved by the institutional review boards of Sun Yat-sen University and the participating hospitals. Full details of the methods used are in the appendix (p 1).The clinical and demographic characteristics of the 230 patients analysed are shown in the appendix (p 2). There were 129 men and
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