Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with laboratory-confirmed chronic liver disease and COVID-19 submitted to COVIDCirrhosis.org and COVID-Hep.net reporting registries between 25th March 2020 and 20th April 2020.
| Variable | Univariable analysis |
Multivariable analysis |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total; n = 152 |
Survived; n = 105 |
Died; n = 47 |
p value† | OR (95%CI) for death | p value§ | ||||
| Median or n | IQR or % | Median or n | IQR or % | Median or n | IQR or % | ||||
| Age (years) | 61 | 48–71 | 60 | 46–70 | 64 | 57–73 | 0.025 | 1.04 (1.00–1.09) | 0.048 |
| Sex (male) | 91 | 59.9% | 61 | 58.1% | 30 | 63.8% | 0.666 | – | – |
| White ethnicity | 86 | 56.6% | 56 | 53.3% | 30 | 63.8% | 0.228 | – | – |
| Smoker | 9 | 5.9% | 7 | 6.7% | 2 | 4.3% | 0.560 | – | – |
| Obese (BMI >30 kg/m2) | 33 | 21.7% | 18 | 17.1% | 15 | 31.9% | 0.017 | 3.59 (1.10–10.47) | 0.033 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 33 | 21.7% | 18 | 17.1% | 15 | 31.9% | 0.041 | 1.87 (0.57–6.15) | 0.303 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 54 | 35.5% | 30 | 28.6% | 24 | 51.1% | 0.007 | 2.86 (1.00–8.20) | 0.051 |
| Hypertension | 60 | 39.5% | 35 | 33.3% | 25 | 53.2% | 0.021 | 0.71 (0.22–2.24) | 0.555 |
| Liver disease severity | |||||||||
| CLD without cirrhosis | 49 | 32.2% | 43 | 41.0% | 6 | 12.8% | <0.001 | 1.00 | – |
| Child-Pugh A | 46 | 30.3% | 35 | 33.3% | 11 | 23.4% | <0.001 | 1.21 (0.30–4.90) | 0.789 |
| Child-Pugh B | 30 | 19.7% | 17 | 16.2% | 13 | 27.7% | <0.001 | 4.90 (1.16–20.61) | 0.030 |
| Child-Pugh C | 27 | 17.8% | 10 | 9.5% | 17 | 36.2% | <0.001 | 28.07 (4.42–178.46) | <0.001 |
| MELD score∗ | 10 | 7–17 | 9 | 7–17 | 13 | 9–17 | 0.014 | – | – |
| Laboratory (baseline) | |||||||||
| Sodium (mmol/L) | 138 | 135–141 | 139 | 136–141 | 137 | 134–140 | 0.058 | 1.06 (0.93–1.22) | 0.377 |
| Prothrombin time (s) | 13 | 12–17 | 13 | 12–15 | 15 | 13–18 | 0.011 | – | – |
| Bilirubin (mg/dl) | 1.1 | 0.6–1.9 | 0.9 | 0.5–1.5 | 1.4 | 0.8–2.0 | 0.013 | – | – |
| Albumin (g/dl) | 3.4 | 2.8–4 | 3.8 | 3.0–4.0 | 2.9 | 2.4–3.3 | <0.001 | – | – |
| Creatinine (mg/dl) | 0.9 | 0.6–1.1 | 0.8 | 0.6–1.0 | 0.9 | 0.7–1.1 | 0.010 | 0.88 (0.53–1.47) | 0.634 |
| Events after diagnosis | |||||||||
| Any decompensation | 39 | 25.7% | 15 | 14.3% | 24 | 51.1% | <0.001 | – | – |
| New jaundice | 27 | 17.8% | 14 | 13.3% | 13 | 27.7% | 0.067 | – | – |
BMI, body mass index; CLD, chronic liver disease; MELD, model for end-stage liver disease (2016 revision); OR, odds ratio.
MELD score presented is as calculated for all patients; when restricted to patients with cirrhosis, MELD was 11 (IQR 7–19) in those who survived and 14 (9–17) in those who died, p = 0.136. To explore the relationship of MELD with death, multiple logistic regression was repeated with death as the dependent variable and age, baseline MELD, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and baseline albumin as independent variables; here the OR for death for MELD was 1.05 (0.98–1.11) p = 0.204; other variables with p <0.05 were age 1.05 (1.00–1.08) p = 0.038, obesity 3.61 (1.36–9.60) p = 0.010, and baseline albumin 0.97 (0.93–1.00) p = 0.029. Any decompensation defined as one or more of worsening ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatic encephalopathy, or variceal haemorrhage.
p values for univariable analyses calculated using chi-squared or Wilcoxon ranksum tests as appropriate. p values <0.05 in bold.
p values for multivariable analysis calculated by multiple logistic regression with the dependent variable as death and the following independent variables: age, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic liver disease status as Child-Pugh class, baseline serum sodium, and baseline serum creatinine. p values <0.05 in bold.