Impact of COVID-19 in liver disease progression

Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), which has infected millions of people worldwide in only a few months A minority, but significant number, of infected individuals require hospitalization and intensive care From the start of this new virus pandemic, it was apparent that obese and/or diabetic individuals had a bad prognosis for COVID-19 progression, strongly suggesting an association between liver disease and severe COVID-19 Since chronic liver disease (CLD) is associated with immune dysregulation and inflammation, it is unsurprising that CLD patients may carry a greater risk of adverse outcomes following SARS-CoV-2 infection Initial COVID-19 data have also indicated that healthy infected individuals display abnormal liver function tests, suggesting a possible direct implication of SARS-CoV-2 in liver damage Here we show that COVID-19 affects the liver metabolism and increases the morbidity and mortality of individuals with underlying CLD