Clinical features of liver injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: An analysis of 201 cases
10.3969/j.issn.1001-5256.2020.07.023
- VernacularTitle:201例新型冠状病毒肺炎患者肝损害临床特征分析
- Author:
Dan LONG
1
;
Linghui QIN
2
;
Shan GAO
3
Author Information
1. Department of Gastroenterology;Department of Urology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, Hubei 441021, China
2. Department of Urology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, Hubei 441021, China
3. Department of Gastroenterology
- Publication Type:Research Article
- Keywords:
coronavirus disease 2019;
liver injury;
serum albumin
- From:
Journal of Clinical Hepatology
2020;36(7):1567-1570
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
ObjectiveTo investigate the features of liver injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. MethodsMedical records were collected from 201 patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to Xiangyang Central Hospital from January 19 to March 5, 2020, and these patients were divided into non-critical (mild/common type) group with 173 patients and critical (severe/critical type) group with 28 patients. The data on alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), and albumin (Alb) were collected. The t-test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between groups, the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups, and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of ranked data between groups. ResultsAmong the 201 patients, 37 (18.4%) had liver injury, with 19 in the critical group and 18 in the non-critical group, and there was a significant difference in the incidence rate of liver injury between the two groups (67.9% vs 10.4%, χ2=52.963, P<0.05). There were significant differences between the 19 patients with liver injury in the critical group and the 18 patients with liver injury in the non-critical group in the duration of abnormal ALT and/or AST (on admission and during hospitalization) (χ2=11.906, P<0.05) and the increase in ALT and/or AST (Z=-2.869, P<0.05), and most patients had mild or moderate liver injury. Among the 201 patients, only one patient had elevated bilirubin (TBil <2 × upper limit of normal, mainly indirect bilirubin) and had non-critical liver injury. The critical group had a significantly lower level of Alb than the non-critical group (t=-8.002, P<0.05). Among the 201 patients, 75 had a reduction in Alb, among whom 50 (50/201, 24.9%) had a reduction on admission and 25 (25/201, 12.4%) had a reduction during hospitalization, and there were significant differences in Alb (t=-4.967, P<0.05) and hypoalbuminemia (χ2=26.645, P<0.05) between the two periods of time. ConclusionLiver injury is relatively common in patients with COVID-19, mainly mild or moderate liver injury. There is a low incidence rate of abnormal bilirubin and a high incidence rate of the reduction in Alb. There are significant differences in the incidence rate and severity of liver injury between the crucial and non-critical patients. Alb level can be used as one of the indicators to evaluate and predict the severity of COVID-19 patients.