Acute hepatitis and liver injury in hospitalized patients with COVID‑19 infection

Georgakopoulou,Vasiliki Epameinondas; Bali,Triada; Adamantou,Magdalini; Asimakopoulou,Stavroula; Makrodimitri,Sotiria; Samara,Stamatia; Triantafyllou,Maria; Voutsinas,Pantazis M.; Eliadi,Irene; Karamanakos,Georgios; Basoulis,Dimitrios; Chatzipanagiotou,Odysseas; Adamopoulou,Eleni; Alevizou,Antonia; Athanasiadis,Menelaos; Spandidos,Demetrios A.; Papalexis,Petros; Tarantinos,Kyriakos; Sipsas,Nikolaos V.; Samarkos,Michael; Cholongitas,Evangelos

doi:10.3892/etm.2022.11627

November-2022 Volume 24 Issue 5

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November-2022 Volume 24 Issue 5

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Article Open Access

Acute hepatitis and liver injury in hospitalized patients with COVID‑19 infection

Authors:
- Vasiliki Epameinondas Georgakopoulou
- Triada Bali
- Magdalini Adamantou
- Stavroula Asimakopoulou
- Sotiria Makrodimitri
- Stamatia Samara
- Maria Triantafyllou
- Pantazis M. Voutsinas
- Irene Eliadi
- Georgios Karamanakos
- Dimitrios Basoulis
- Odysseas Chatzipanagiotou
- Eleni Adamopoulou
- Antonia Alevizou
- Menelaos Athanasiadis
- Demetrios A. Spandidos
- Petros Papalexis
- Kyriakos Tarantinos
- Nikolaos V. Sipsas
- Michael Samarkos
- Evangelos Cholongitas
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Affiliations: Infectious Diseases and COVID‑19 Unit, Laiko General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece, First Department of Internal Medicine, Laiko General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece, 1st Pulmonology Department Sismanogleio Hospital, 15126, Athens, Greece

Copyright: © Georgakopoulou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.
Article Number: 691
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Published online on: September 26, 2022

https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2022.11627
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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) is a systemic illness with an increased host inflammatory response that affects multiple extra‑pulmonary organs, including the gastrointestinal tract. Abnormalities in liver biochemistry have been observed in a significant proportion of patients with COVID‑19 upon admission, and this proportion increases with hospitalization. These abnormalities are typically manifested as elevations in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, with less frequently detected elevations in the levels of cholestatic enzymes. Elevated aminotransaminase levels have been linked to an increased risk of mortality and complications, indicating the severity of COVID‑19 infection. The present study evaluated the prevalence and the baseline factors associated with the development of acute hepatitis (ΑΗ), liver injury (LI) and associated patterns, as well as the presence of abnormalities in the levels of aminotransferases at discharge in the same cohort. For this purpose, 1,304 patients with confirmed COVID‑19 infection were enrolled in the study. According to the results obtained, AST levels at baseline were the only independent factor for AH during hospital stay, while AST, alkaline phosphatase and ferritin levels were independent baseline factors for the development of LI. The patients with hepatocellular, compared to those with cholestatic LI, exhibited similar survival rates, as well as similarities in the development of acute kidney injury and the need for oxygen via high‑flow nasal cannula and/or mechanical ventilation. In addition, age and ALT were independent risk factors for persistent abnormal values of AST and ALT at discharge.

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Journals

International Journal of Molecular Medicine

International Journal of Oncology

Molecular Medicine Reports

Oncology Reports

Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine

Oncology Letters

Biomedical Reports

Molecular and Clinical Oncology

World Academy of Sciences Journal

International Journal of Functional Nutrition

International Journal of Epigenetics

Medicine International

Acute hepatitis and liver injury in hospitalized patients with COVID‑19 infection

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