INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is an acute respiratory infectious
disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS‐CoV‐2) 1, 2. Since the patients can suddenly get
worsen requiring intensive care unit (ICU), early identification and
timely intervention of patients with a tendency to become severe is
essential to improve outcomes 1.
Liver function tests (LFTs) including aspartate aminotransferase (AST),
alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT),
alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and bilirubin levels are studied in COVID-19
in some previous studies 3, 4. As with many viral
infections, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
is also shown to be associated with abnormal liver function tests5.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is known to be the host cell
receptor for SARS-CoV-2. It has been shown that there is a significant
enrichment of ACE2 expression in a major portion of the cholangiocyte
clusters. GGT is a diagnostic biomarker for cholangiocyte injury and
thus may be suggested as a marker of cholangiocyte involvement in
COVID-19 6, 7. Patients with elevated liver function
tests were related to more severe disease in COVID-198, 9.
In this study, we aimed to define the predictive role of liver function
tests at admission to the hospital in outcomes of hospitalized patients
with Covid-19. In this way, we aimed to define an effective tool for the
early clinical detection of severe cases in the COVID‐19 outbreak.