Novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus.1 The virus spreads across the world at an alarming rate leading to a pandemic and creating a severe burden to health care resources. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic conditions requiring lifelong treatment in the majority of patients with a high risk for surgery.2,3 Given the severity of the pandemic, it has been recommended by multiple associations and societies that elective surgery be postponed while urgent surgery should continue.4,5,6 The current survey study is aimed to evaluate changes in hospital admissions and surgeries during COVID-19 from the patient’s perspective.

This study included IBD patients who underwent surgery in major IBD centers in China from January 2020 to March 2020. The survey was built on an online platform using Wechat, which is a widely used social media app in China. The link to the survey was sent to all patients with contact information recorded in the medical chart. The response to the survey was submitted anonymously online so patients could share their genuine experiences. Only one submission was allowed for each WeChat account. Given the anonymous nature of this study, only the information obtained from the survey were used for analysis, and further chart review cannot be conducted.

The survey was distributed to a total of 126 IBD patients who underwent surgery from January to March 2020. Within these patients, 78 (61.9%) patients responded to the survey. (Fig. 1) There were 64 patients with underlying Crohn’s disease (82.1%). Patients undergoing surgery during the pandemic were mostly under the age of 40 (N = 52, 66.7%). The use of medications and additional nutrition support was described in Table 1 A total of 60 patients (88.5%) have been tested for COVID-19 before or during admission, and they were all tested negative. Twenty-six (33.3%) patients underwent surgery in January 2020 and 44 (56.4%) in March 2020, while only 8 (10.3%) patients received surgery during February 2020. Thirty-four (43.6%) patients reported that their length of hospital stay was longer than anticipated. Regardless, 44 (56.4%) patients rated their overall experience as excellent. Emergent surgery was performed in 12 (15.4%) patients, elective surgery in 48 (61.5%) patients, and postponed surgery in 18 (23.1%) patients. Among the patients with postponed surgery, 7 (38.9%) experienced worsening symptoms, and 2 (11.1%) received emergent surgery. Parental nutrition was required in 23 (29.6%) patients, and enteral nutrition in 42 (53.8%), while no additional nutritional supplementation in 33 (42.3%). The most common surgical indications were bowel obstruction (N = 21, 26.9%) and perianal abscess (N = 18, 23.1%). Fecal diversion was required in 26 (33.3%) patients. Complications were reported in 4 (5.1%) patients without the need for re-operation. Twenty-one (27.0%) patients expressed a certain degree of concern, while 37 (47.4%) felt nervous but confident in the hospital’s handling of the situation.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Flowchart on patients surveyed in this study

Table. 1 Clinical characteristic, and surgical and hospitalization experiences of IBD patients receiving surgery

In this study, we identified that the common surgical indications were bowel obstruction and perianal abscesses during the pandemic. While surgery can be postponed, disease progression should be monitored closely and surgically intervened as needed. Nonetheless, the overall postoperative complication rate was acceptable, and patients’ experience in the surgery was satisfactory. It is essential to acknowledge the fear and anxiety the patients may have to help improve rapport during this global pandemic.