Is positivity for hepatitis C virus antibody predictive of lower risk of death in COVID-19 patients with cirrhosis?

paythelady.612 shared this article with you from Inoreader Is positivity for hepatitis C virus antibody predictive of lower risk of death in COVID-19 patients with cirrhosis? Μέσω pubmed: "world j clin cases"... Related Articles Is positivity for hepatitis C virus antibody predictive of lower risk of death in COVID-19 patients with cirrhosis? World J Clin Cases. 2020 Nov 26;8(22):5831-5834 Authors: Mangia A, Cenderello G, Verucchi G, Ciancio A, Fontana A, Piazzolla V, Minerva N, Squillante MM, Copetti M Abstract Liver injury has been reported in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases but the impact of pre-existing liver damage and related etiology have not been completely elucidated. Our research interests include the potential reciprocal influence of COVID-19 and pre-existing liver damage related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, in particular. To this end, we have evaluated three cohorts of patients admitted at three Italian hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic; these included 332 patients with COVID-19 and 1527 patients with HCV who were from established real-world antiviral treatment study cohorts (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir), with either liver disease (various severities; n = 1319) or cirrhosis (n = 208). Among the COVID-19 patients, 10 had cirrhosis (3%), including 7 of metabolic origin and 3 of viral origin. Mortality among the COVID-19 patients was 27.1%, with 70% of those with cirrhosis of metabolic etiology having died. Cirrhosis, older age, low white blood cell cou nt and lymphocyte count being identified as risk predictors of death [odds ratio (OR) = 13.7, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.59-83.01, P = 0.006; OR = 1.05, 95%CI: 1.03-1.08, P = 0.0001; OR = 1.09, 95%CI: 1.36-1.16, P = 0.001; OR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.39-0.93, P = 0.023, respectively]. In the two cohorts of HCV patients, COVID-19 diagnosis was made in 0.07% of those with liver disease and 1% of those with cirrhosis. Thus, the prevalence of HCV antibodies among COVID-19-infected patients was comparable to that currently reported for the general population in Italy. Amongst the COVID-19 patients, pre-existing metabolic cirrhosis appears to be associated with higher mortality, while HCV antibodies may be suggestive of "protection" against COVID-19. PMID: 33344581 [PubMed] View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.