Abstract
While respiratory symptoms are prevalent in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, growing evidence indicates that COVID-19 affects a wide variety of organs. Coronaviruses affect not only the respiratory system, but also the circulatory, nervous and digestive systems. The most common comorbidities in COVID-19 patients are hypertension, followed by diabetes, cardiovascular, and respiratory disease. Most conditions predisposing to SARS-CoV-2 infection are closely related to the metabolic syndrome. Obesity and chronic diseases, including liver disease, are associated with the induction of pro-inflammatory conditions and a reduction in immune response disorders, leading to the suspicion that these conditions may increase the susceptibility to SARS-CoV2 infection and the risk of complications. The definition of liver damage caused by COVID-19 has not yet been established. COVID-19 may contribute to both primary and secondary liver injury in people with pre-existing chronic disease and impaired liver reserves, leading to exacerbation of underlying disease, liver decompensation, or acute chronic liver failure. Therefore, many researchers have interpreted it as clinical or laboratory abnormalities in the course of the disease and treatment in patients with or without pre-existing liver disease. The research results available so far indicate that patients with liver disease require special attention in the event of COVID-19 infection.
Highlights
It has been over a year since China reported first cases of a mysterious new strain of pneumonia to the World Health Organization and 18 months since it was declared pandemic
Respiratory symptoms with widely varying severity dominate in patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2, a growing amount of data highlight the impact of COVID-19 on multiple organs, as it was in the case of SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV
It is not surprising to observe that some research linked severe course of COVID-19 to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is likely seen as a cause or consequence of metabolic syndrome [13]
Summary
It has been over a year since China reported first cases of a mysterious new strain of pneumonia to the World Health Organization and 18 months since it was declared pandemic. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the new virus severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the condition caused by it, coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) [1]. By the time of this article, WHO has reported over 220 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 of which 55% have fully recovered and 2% have died [2,3]. Respiratory symptoms with widely varying severity dominate in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, a growing amount of data highlight the impact of COVID-19 on multiple organs, as it was in the case of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. It is important to determine the clinical and prognostic significance of these disorders and the implications of this new disease for patients with pre-existing liver diseases, such as viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), autoimmune hepatitis and cirrhosis
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