Roca-Fernández, A;
Dennis, A;
Nicholls, R;
McGonigle, J;
Kelly, M;
Banerjee, R;
Banerjee, A;
(2021)
Hepatic Steatosis, Rather Than Underlying Obesity, Increases the Risk of Infection and Hospitalization for COVID-19.
Frontiers in Medicine
, 8
, Article 636637. 10.3389/fmed.2021.636637.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a risk factor for SARS-COV2 infection and is often associated with hepatic steatosis. The aim of this study was to determine if pre-existing hepatic steatosis affects the risk of infection and severity for COVID-19. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study (UK Biobank). Univariate and stepwise multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed on liver phenotypic biomarkers to determine if these variables increased risk of testing positive and being hospitalized for COVID-19; then compared to previously described risk factors associated with COVID-19, including age, ethnicity, gender, obesity, socio-economic status. SETTING: UK biobank study. PARTICIPANTS: 502,506 participants (healthy at baseline) in the UK Biobank, of whom 41,791 underwent MRI (aged 50–83) for assessment of liver fat, liver fibro-inflammatory disease, and liver iron. Positive COVID-19 test was determined from UK testing data, starting in March 2020 and censored in January 2021. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Liver fat measured as proton density fat fraction (PDFF%) MRI and body mass index (BMI, Kg/m2) to assess prior to February 2020 using MRI of the liver to assess hepatic steatosis. RESULTS: Within the imaged cohort (n = 41, 791), 4,458 had been tested and 1,043 (2.49% of the imaged population) tested positive for COVID-19. Individuals with fatty liver (≥10%) were at increased risk of testing positive (OR: 1.35, p = 0.007) and those participants with obesity and fatty liver, were at increased risk of hospitalization with a positive test result by 5.14 times (p = 0.0006). CONCLUSIONS: UK Biobank data revealed obese individuals with fatty liver disease were at increased risk of infection and hospitalization for COVID-19. Public policy measures and personalized medicine should be considered in order to protect these high-risk individuals.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Hepatic Steatosis, Rather Than Underlying Obesity, Increases the Risk of Infection and Hospitalization for COVID-19. |
Location: | Switzerland |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.3389/fmed.2021.636637 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.636637 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | © 2021 Roca-Fernández, Dennis, Nicholls, McGonigle, Kelly, Banerjee, Banerjee and Sanyal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
Keywords: | COVID-19, biomarker, disease severity, liver fat, risk factor |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126718 |
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