Hepatic affection associated with COVID-19

Background; By the end of December 2019, a single- stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus, Coronavirus, was said to be responsible for an outbreak of respiratory infections of unknown origin in Wuhan, China. Some of the reported studies revealed that those patients who were affected with this virus had hepatic affection in form of raised transaminases. Aim and objectives; to study the hepatic disorders in coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) patients in Aswan and its relationship to covid-19 severity and impact on prognosis. Subjects and methods; A cross sectional study, was carried out on patients presented with COVID-19 infection in Aswan University Hospital, through a period between 2020 to 2022. Up to 152 patients were enrolled. Detailed history and examination was performed to all patients. Laboratory data was done in patients especially liver function test. Result; median age of the patients was 60 years old with range between 54-70 years. Majority of those patients were males. Majority of patients were critically ill representing 44% ,while only 31% were mild or moderate. Up to 61% of the patients (N=92) had hepatic affection. Patients with hepatic affection had higher age, male predominance and severe form of COVID-19 disease. Also, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiac disease, asthma and dyspnea were more frequent among those with hepatic affection. Based on the current study, the predictors for hepatic affection in those patients were severe or critical disease. Conclusion; patients with COVID-19 could be liable to hepatic affection especially in case of severe form of the disease. Hepatic affection in those patients may lead to poor outcomes, so future studies with large number of participants are warranted about this point.