Original article / research
Year : 2022 Month : April Volume : 11 Issue : 2 Page : BO10 - BO15

Impact of COVID-19 on Liver Enzymes: A Retrospective Study
Seema Patel, Gini Garima, Nidhi Anand, Anil Kumar Pandey, Harnam Kaur, Pullaiah Pasupuleti
1. Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India. 2. Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India. 3. Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India. 4. Professor, Department of Physiology, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India. 5. Professor, Department of Biochemistry, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India. 6. Senior Resident, Department of Biochemistry, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
 
Correspondence Address :
Seema Patel, Gini Garima, Nidhi Anand, Anil Kumar Pandey, Harnam Kaur, Pullaiah Pasupuleti,
Dr. Gini Garima,
Department of Biochemistry, ESIC Medical College Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
E-mail: ginigarima4@gmail.com
 
ABSTRACT
: Introduction: The global pandemic of novel Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread worldwide crippling the healthcare system. Besides the respiratory system, COVID-19 patients show signs of various degrees of liver damage, the mechanism and implication yet undeciphered. Hence, in this study, we aim to find out pattern and trend of derangement in liver functions in COVID-19 patients.

Aim: To depict the pattern and trend of liver enzymes in COVID-19 admitted patients without history of liver disease.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted as a single centred, retrospective, observational study, from June 2020 till December 2020. It included 1909 admitted COVID-19 positive patients diagnosed via either nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab by Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). The COVID-19 positive patients were divided into four groups Group I: Age- 15-20 years; 150 patients, Group II: Age 21-40 years; 645 patients, Group III: Age 41-60 years; 560 patients, Group IV: Age >60 years; 554 patients. Abnormality in liver tests was defined as greater than three times of upper limit of normal reference range Alanine Transaminase (ALT) >120 U/L, Aspartate Transaminase (AST) >120 U/L as Hepatocellular injury, greater than two times of upper limit of normal reference range Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) >250 U/L as Cholestatic Injury (CSI). The statistical analysis was done by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0.

Results: It was found that with respect to ALT levels, males in age 21-60 years, whereas females in two extremes of age 15-20 and >60 years age were the most affected. Whereas, females in age group <40 years were more affected with higher AST activity. With respect to abnormal ALP levels female in age group <40 years were most affected but males were most affected in age group >40 years.

Conclusion: Irrespective of age and gender, abnormality in liver enzymes was observed. Liver Function Tests (LFT) are a part of routine investigations carried out at the time of admission; its abnormalities may guide us in devising strategy to prioritise patient management in correlation with inflammatory markers.
Keywords : Coronavirus disease-2019, Alanine transaminase, Alkaline phosphatase, Aspartate transaminase, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2
DOI and Others : DOI: 10.7860/NJLM/2022/51716.2602

Date of Submission: Aug 04, 2021
Date of Peer Review: Sep 10, 2021
Date of Acceptance: Nov 21, 2021
Date of Publishing: Apr 01, 2022

AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? No
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. No

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