Liver profile in COVID-19: a meta-analysis

Background: Few studies have been performed to investigate multiorgan failure occurring with extrapulmonary symptoms like diarrhea, anorexia, and vomiting. There has been no attempt at a systematic review on this major health issue. Hence, in this study, a meta-analysis was undertaken to quantify the overall risk of liver damage in COVID-19 patients and also find the overall variation in risk outcome.

Materials and methods: A meta-analysis was carried out on the findings of four published studies that were related to the albumin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels of COVID-19 patients. The pooled mean for each of these three measurements was estimated by using a random-effects model.

Results: The pooled means for albumin, AST, and ALT in COVID-19 patients were 38.84 g/L [95% confidence interval (CI): 35.83-41.86], 27.28 IU/L (95% CI: 18.30-36.26), and 24.44 IU/L (95% CI: 15.73-33.15) respectively. There was a high degree of divergence among the studies, with the index of heterogeneity being more than 90%.

Conclusion: The ALT and albumin pooled means were reported to be within the normal range; however, the pooled mean of the serum AST level was found to be high in COVID-19 patients. The pooled means reported in this study can be useful for working out the degree of liver damage in COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: ALT; AST; Albumin; COVID-19; Liver profile.