Prevalence of liver injury in 445 patients with Corona Virus Disease-19-Single-centre experience from southern India

BACKGROUND: Abnormal liver function tests (LFT) are common in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and vary from 15% to 53%. There are scanty data from India on the prevalence of liver injury in corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. METHODS: We did this retrospective study in a tertiary care hospital, Chennai, India. Patients aged >18 years admitted with COVID-19 from May 1, 2020, to May 31, 2020, were included. We noted the demographic details, symptoms at presentation, history of pre-existing illnesses, and laboratory tests. We also recorded the patient’s clinical course and outcome. RESULTS: We took 445 patients for final analysis. Aspartate transaminase (AST) was borderline elevated in 47.5%, mildly elevated in 11.2%, moderately elevated in 2% and severely in 0.7%. Alanine transaminase (ALT) was borderline elevated in 28.7%, mildly elevated in 11.4%, and moderately elevated in 1.3%. Bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase were abnormal in only 19 (4.2%) and 15 (3.3%) patients, respectively. Patients with abnormal LFT were more likely to be symptomatic (90.3% vs. 80.6%, p 0.002). Respiratory symptoms (43.5% vs. 29.7%) and loose stools (11.4% vs. 3.4%) were also more common among them. Patients with abnormal LFT were more likely to have severe disease (25.2% vs. 13.6%, p value 0.003) and mortality (8.8% vs. 0.7%). CONCLUSION: Liver test abnormalities were widespread in patients with COVID-19. Most of the patients had borderline or mild transaminase elevation. Despite only mild changes, patients with abnormal LFT were more likely to be symptomatic and had more severe disease and mortality.