Pattern of liver function test variations in COVID-19 infection & its clinical significance: A study from a dedicated COVID-19 tertiary care centre from India.

Background & objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and other systems disease. Studies describing liver involvement and liver function test (LFT) abnormalities are sparse from our population. This study was undertaken to estimate the LFT abnormalities in patients with COVID-19 in a tertiary care set up in India. Methods: In this retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care centre in Mumbai, India, all consecutive patients with proven COVID-19 by reverse transcriptase-PCR from March 23 to October 31, 2020 were enrolled. Of the 3280 case records profiled, 1474 cases were included in the study. Clinical characteristics, biochemical parameters and outcomes were recorded. Results: Overall 681 (46%) patient had deranged LFTs. Hepatocellular type of injury was most common (93%). Patients with deranged LFTs had more probability of developing severe disease (P<0.001) and mortality (P<0.001). Advanced age (P<0.001), male gender (P<0.001), diabetes mellitus (P<0.001), lower oxygen saturation levels at admission (P<0.001), higher neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (P<0.001), history of diabetes mellitus and cirrhosiss were associated with deranged LFTs. Acute liver injury was seen in 65 (4.3%) cases on admission and 57 (3.5%) cases during hospital stay. On multivariate analysis for predicting mortality, age >60 yr serum creatinine >2 mg%, PaO2/FiO2 ratio ≤200 and raised AST >50 IU/l (OR: 2.34, CI: 1.59-3.48, P<0.001) were found to be significant. Interpretation & conclusions: In COVID-19, LFT abnormalities were common, and derangement increased as severity progressed. The presence of deranged LFT worsens the clinical outcome and predicts in-hospital mortality.

Screening of Family Members of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Patients can Detect Undiagnosed Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Among Them: Is There a Genetic Link?

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has multifactorial origin. Genetic and environmental factors lead to the biology of this complex disorder. In this study, we screened parents of cases with NAFLD and compared them with parents of cases without NAFLD to see its familial aggregation and the role of patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3 (PNPLA3). METHOD: It was a cross-sectional study. Parents of probands with NAFLD and without NAFLD were screened with abdominal sonography, anthropometry, blood tests, transient elastography, and PNPLA3 polymorphism. RESULTS: We had enrolled 303 individuals: 51 probands with NAFLD, 50 probands without NAFLD, and their 202 parents. Parents of the NAFLD group had significantly higher metabolic risk factors as compared with parents of the non-NAFLD group. They had a significantly higher rate of fatty liver (P = 0.0001), mean serum aspartate aminotransferase levels (P = 0.011), mean serum alanine aminotransferase levels (P = 0.001),raised fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels, lower mean platelets (P = 0.033) and serum albumin levels (P = 0.005), and higher mean liver stiffness (P = 0.001) on transient elastography.Frequency of PNPLA3 polymorphism within NAFLD group was higher compared to the non-NAFLD group (mutant GG-13.3 vs 3.3%). Similarly, parents of NAFLD group had mutant GG in 15 % versus 5% in parents of non-NAFLD group, (P = 0.105, odds ratio 6), though it was not statistically significant but may be relevant. In this study, offsprings of parents with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis were likely to have GG homozygous allele. A NAFLD16 score based on parent's parameters was calculated to predict the probability of NAFLD occurrence in an overweight obese individual. CONCLUSION: Screening of parents of individuals with NAFLD will help in the identification of undiagnosed NAFLD cases and other metabolic risk factors among them as there is a familial aggregation of NAFLD. One can predict the occurrence of NAFLD in the next generation using the NAFLD16 score.