P1817 - Incidence and Use of COVID-Associated Transaminitis on Admission as a Marker of Prognosis in COVID-19 Patients

Omar Khan, MD¹, Junaid Ansari, MD¹, Victoria Winter, BS², Kelsey Rooney, BS¹, Ioannis Papayannis, MD^1
1Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, LA; ²LSUHSC Shreveport School of Medicine, Covington, LA

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is responsible for the currently ongoing pandemic. COVID-19 has been associated with laboratory abnormalities, including elevated inflammatory markers, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and transaminitis. Some of these labs have been used to track the severity of the COVID-19 infection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the incidence of COVID-related transaminitis and its role on COVID-19 prognosis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational study of hospitalized adult patients (age > 18 years) admitted to OLSU-S from the northwestern Louisiana region and surrounding areas with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2. All clinical data were reviewed from 347 patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19 management at OLSU-S, including epidemiology, clinical features, laboratory data, hospital management, and clinical course.

Results: Transaminitis on admission was defined as having both aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) greater than 40 U/L on admission. Patients with COVID-related transaminitis were defined as patients without a history of liver disease or significant alcohol use who had transaminitis on admission, along with recently documented baseline transaminase values less than 40 U/L. The average BMI of the entire patient population was 33.81 kg/m². Out of the entire patient population, 91 patients (26%) were found to have transaminitis on admission. Of these patients, 28 patients (31%) were found to have recent normal transaminase values prior to admission and classified as COVID-related transaminitis. None of COVID-related transaminitis patients had passed away by the end of the admission. 9 (33%) of the COVID-related transaminitis patients required ICU level of care and 6 of these patients required intubation. In comparison, the group of patients with transaminitis on admission but with no baseline transaminase data had 7 deaths (11%). From this group, 22 (35%) patients required ICU level of care and 13 of these patients required intubation.

Discussion: Our observations show no significant correlation between COVID-related transaminitis on admission and death. Further studies could be done to evaluate this relationship in a larger patient population with baseline transaminase data for comparison. Studies could be done to see if the incidence of COVID-related transaminitis differs in patients with a lower average BMI and therefore lower risk of fatty liver disease.



Disclosures:


Omar Khan, MD¹, Junaid Ansari, MD¹, Victoria Winter, BS², Kelsey Rooney, BS¹, Ioannis Papayannis, MD¹. P1817 - Incidence and Use of COVID-Associated Transaminitis on Admission as a Marker of Prognosis in COVID-19 Patients, ACG 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Las Vegas, Nevada: American College of Gastroenterology.