Hepatology Consultants Often Disagree on Etiology of Abnormal Liver Biochemistries in COVID-19 but Agree on Management

Liver function tests in COVID 19: A retrospective record-based study from a tertiary care centre in urban Maharashtra, India

Background

COVID-19 is a multi system disorder and causes various abnormalities in liver function tests. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abnormal liver function tests in patients of COVID-19 and to describe the association of liver function tests with clinical features and disease severity in these patients.

Methods

We retrospectively evaluated and analyzed the liver function tests of all real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive COVID-19 patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Western Maharashtra. The Institutional Ethics Committee of our hospital approved the study.

Results

Of the 533 patients included in our study, 50% had abnormal albumin levels while 40.1%, 43.5%, 9.3%, and 6.3% patients had deranged alanine transaminase (ALT) aspartate transaminase (AST), total protein and bilirubin levels, respectively. Hepatocellular injury was observed in 21 (3.9%) patients, and cholestatic liver injury was observed in seven (1.3%) patients. Abnormal liver function test (LFT) was significantly associated with disease severity but not with mortality.

Conclusion

Abnormal LFT in patients of COVID-19 is associated with severe disease but not mortality. Liver injury is common in patients of COVID-19.