Abnormal liver biochemical parameters in pregnancy during the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the differences in abnormal liver biochemical parameters in pregnant patients during the epidemic or non-epidemic period of coronavirus disease 2019 （COVID-19）. MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for 539 pregnant women who were discharged from Department of Obstetrics， Peking University First Hospital， from October 2017 to March 2022 and had at least one abnormal liver biochemical parameter among alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase （GGT）， total bilirubin （TBil）， and total bile acid. The patients in the epidemic period of COVID-19 and those in the non-epidemic period of COVID-19 were compared in terms of etiology， coagulation parameters， aminotransferases， bile acid， and renal function. The independent samples t-test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups， and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. ResultsAmong the patients discharged from Department of Obstetrics during the non-epidemic period of COVID-19， 262 had abnormal liver biochemical parameters， accounting for 1.46%， while 277 patients had abnormal liver biochemical parameters during the epidemic period of COVID-19， accounting for 1.73% among the patients discharged from Department of Obstetrics during the same period of time， and there was a significant difference between these two groups （χ2=3.947， P=0.047）. The etiological analysis of the patients with abnormal liver biochemical parameters during the two periods showed that there was no difference in the proportion of patients with four pregnancy-specific liver diseases （hyperemesis gravidarum， preeclampsia and eclampsia， intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy， and acute fatty liver of pregnancy）. As for the patients with abnormal liver biochemical parameters in pregnancy， there was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with normal creatinine and stimated glomerular filtration rate （eGFR） between the epidemic period and the non-epidemic period （86.78% vs 87.90%， χ2=0.141， P=0.708）. The patients with ALT≥5×upper limit of normal accounted for 7.94% in the epidemic period of COVID-19 and 9.54% in the non-epidemic period （χ2=0.433， P=0.511）， and the patients with severe cholestasis accounted for 7.75% in the epidemic period of COVID-19 and 9.27% in the non-epidemic period （χ2=0.392， P=0.531）. The proportion of patients with obstetric bleeding during the epidemic period of COVID-19 was significantly lower than that during the non-epidemic period （14.61% vs 24.19%， χ2=489.334， P<0.001）. ConclusionThere is no difference in the proportion of patients with pregnancy-specific liver diseases among the patients with abnormal liver biochemical parameters in pregnancy between the epidemic period and the non-epidemic period of COVID-19， and there is no change in the proportion of patients with normal creatinine and eGFR among these patients in the epidemic period of COVID-19.