Background: In the current COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2), disease diagnosis is essential for optimal management, timely isolation of infected cases in order to prevent further spread and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality burden.
Objective: To assess the liver impairment as a predictive factor for mortality rate of COVID -19 patients.
Patients and Methods: The prospective study included 100 patients with Covid-19 infection who were admitted to Al-Hussein and Bab Al-Sha׳aria University Hospitals. The study was during the period from 1st of February 2021 to 31th of May 2021 and divided in to five groups according to liver functions tests. Presenting clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, radiological findings and mortality rate were recorded from electronic medical records. Diagnoses of COVID-19 patient were done according to criteria of ministry of health and population- Egypt.
Results: The results revealed that the mean of platelets reaching to a minimum mean value at group E and the mean of the neutrophil /lymphocyte ratio reaching to a maximum mean value at Group E, while the lymphocyte /monocyte ratio reaching to a minimum mean value at Group E. There were significant difference among all groups regarding ALT, AST, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin and serum Albumin with P value =0.001 in all parameters. Also there were significant decreases of serum albumin in groups C, D and E when compared with group A, and there were significant increases of total bilirubin, direct bilirubin mean values in group E when compared with group A. There were significant increase of prothrombin time (PT) and INR in groups E when compared with group A. The results showed a significant difference (p-value <0.05) between recovered and died cases for each group with higher mortality rate at group D (7 cases with a percent of 30.4%), then at group E (3 cases with a percent of 25%), and there were 88% recovered and 12% died in all studied COVID-19 patients. The results revealed that the higher mortality rates at group D and E between patients having chest CT scoring 4 and 5.
Conclusion: Patients with accompanying chronic liver diseases are predisposed to developing a more severe course of COVID-19 and increase the mortality rate, but on the other hand, a more complicated presentation of SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the risk of liver failure.