The Interrelationship between Liver Function Test and the Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a global public health challenge. Assessing the effect of COVID-19 on liver injury is of great importance. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to establish the characteristics of liver function tests in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A systematic search of publications from December 2019 up to April 2020 in Web of Science, Scopus, and Medline (via PubMed) databases was performed. Both cross-sectional and case series studies reporting an association between liver injury and COVID-19 infection were included. The data were analyzed using the STATA software (version 11.0) and the random-effects model for I(2)>50% was used to pool the results. RESULTS: In this meta-analysis, 42 articles comprising a total of 6,557 COVID-19 patients were studied. The prevalence of increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels was 30% and 21% in non-severe patients and 38% and 48% in severe patients, respectively. Patients with severe COVID-19 infection were 4.22, 4.96, and 4.13 times more likely to have elevated AST, ALT, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, respectively. CONCLUSION: Elevation in liver function tests was higher in patients with severe than non-severe COVID-19 infection. Given the widespread use of drugs that increases the risk of hepatotoxicity, healthcare providers should be aware of changes in liver enzymes in COVID-19 patients. The inclusion of other studies from outside China could confirm the pattern of elevation in liver function tests in COVID-19 patients across the globe. Preprint of this article is available on medRxiv, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.20.20108357v1