Liver manifestations in COVID-19 and the influence of pre-existing liver disease in the course of the infection.

patients with advanced chronic liver disease (CLD) may be at an increased risk of a severe course due to cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of CLD in COVID-19 patients and to analyze the course of the infection, compared with patients with non-liver disease. this was a retrospective single center study of all patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test from March 23rd to April 30th, 2020. Clinical and biochemical data of patients with and without CLD and COVID-19 were collected from the medical records. four hundred and forty-seven patients with a SARS-CoV-2 positive PCR were included, 6.3 % had CLD; 69.7 % of patients with CLD were male, with a median age of 65.5 years and active alcohol consumption and smoking; 75 % had non-advanced liver fibrosis and most had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The hospital admission rate (92.9 % vs 47.7 %, p patients with CLD had a higher risk of hospital admission, with worse outcomes during the COVID-19 infection associated to other concomitant comorbidities and a suspicion of bacterial co-infection