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.