Gastrointestinal Manifestations in Patients with Common Variable Immunodeficiency

Introduction: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is one of the most prevalent symptomatic primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), which manifest a wide clinical variability such as gastrointestinal (GI) disorder. Methods: A total of 240 patients with CVID were enrolled in this study. The patients were evaluated for demographic data, clinical manifestations, and immunologic profile. Results: In demographic data, the frequency of consanguinity and mortality rate were higher in patients with GI manifestation than those without GI manifestation. History of GI manifestations was evident in 147 patients (61.3%). The most common GI manifestation in patients with CVID was chronic diarrhea (29.6%). The prevalence of GI disease was 59 of 102 (57.8%) in female patients and 88 of 138 (63.8%) in male patients. The frequency of recurrent infection was higher in patients with GI manifestation than in those without GI manifestation. Also, CVID patients with GI manifestations had lower WBC and CD4+ T cells than patients without GI manifestations. Conclusions: CVID patients are at increased risk of infectious conditions in the GI tract; hence GI manifestations are one of the most important presentations in CVID patients which can appear as a first manifestation or appear during the course of disease.