Abstract

Background and Objectives - Covid -19 is a pandemic, which is known to be a multi organ disease with complex clinical manifestations. Covid 19 virus has predilection for lung involvement but can also cause hepatic dysfunction. This study aims to analyze the significance of abnormal liver function tests in SARS- COV2 positive patients.
METHOD- This retrospective study, involved 150 patients (75 MALES, 75 FEMALES) who tested positive for SARS COV2. After obtaining clearance from the ethical committee, clinical and biochemical data were collected retrospectively from patient records, for a period of six months. They were segregated into severe  and non severe SARS COV2 infected individuals.  liver function test  were compared among patients between these 2 groups.
RESULTS-
Of the 150 covid- 19 positive patients, 75 were males and 75 were females. The mean age was 50±5 years. 95 patients belonged to the non severe covid-19 category (22 hypoxic and 73 non hypoxic patients), who were admitted in the ward. 55 patients belonged to the severe covid -19 category (hypoxic patients who required NIV/ ventilator support), admitted in the ICU.
Severe hypoalbuminemia 63% , was observed in the severe category, compared to 6.32%  in the non- severe category. Raised transaminases were observed in 60%  in the severe category, compared to 23.15% in the non severe category.
The incidence of death observed in the ICU in our study was 25.45%, of which 35% were female patients and 64.28%  were male patients.
CONCLUSION- Hypoalbuminemia, raised transaminases and bilirubin were observed in covid-19 patients admitted in the ICU, indicating, they could be considered as a poor prognostic factor.