Role of fatty liver in coronavirus disease 2019 patients’ disease severity and hospitalization length: a case–control study

Abstract

Background and purpose Fatty liver is one of the most common pre-existing illnesses; it can cause liver injury, leading to further complications in coronavirus disease 2019 patients. Our goal is to determine if pre-existing fatty liver is more prevalent in hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to patients admitted before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and determine the disease severity among fatty liver patients. Experimental approach This retrospective study involves a case and a control group consisting of 1162 patients; the case group contains hospitalized COVID-19 patients with positive PCR tests and available chest CT-scan; the control group contains patients with available chest CT-scan previous to the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients’ data such as liver Hounsfield unit, hospitalization length, number of affected lobes, and total lungs involvement score were extracted and compared between the patients. Results The findings indicate that 37.9% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have a pre-existing fatty liver, which is significantly higher ( P \u2009<\u20090.001) than the prevalence of pre-existing fatty liver in control group patients (9.02%). In comparison to hospitalized non-fatty liver COVID-19 patients, data from hospitalized COVID-19 patients with fatty liver indicate a longer hospitalization length (6.81\u2009±\u20094.76 P \u2009=\u20090.02), a higher total lungs involvement score (8.73\u2009±\u20095.28 P \u2009<\u20090.001), and an increased number of affected lobes (4.42\u2009±\u20091.2 P \u2009<\u20090.001). Conclusion The statistical analysis shows fatty liver is significantly more prevalent among COVID-19 against non-COVID-19 patients, and they develop more severe disease and tend to be hospitalized for more extended periods.