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World J Hepatol. Aug 27, 2021; 13(8): 916-925
Published online Aug 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i8.916
Association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and COVID-19: A literature review of current evidence
Prajna Anirvan, Shivaram P Singh, Alexa Giammarino, Sanjaya K Satapathy
Prajna Anirvan, Shivaram P Singh, Department of Gastroenterology, Sriram Chandra Bhanj Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack 753007, Odisha, India
Alexa Giammarino, Department of Internal Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, Manhasset, NY 11030, United States
Sanjaya K Satapathy, Division of Hepatology at Sandra Atlas Bass Center for Liver Diseases and Transplantation, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, Manhasset, NY 11030, United States
Author contributions: Singh SP and Satapathy SK contributed to conception and design; Singh SP, Satapathy SK, Anirvan P and Giammarino A contributed collection and assembly of data; Singh SP and Satapathy SK finished data analysis and interpretation; all authors wrote the manuscript and completed final approval of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sanjaya K Satapathy, FAASLD, AGAF, FACG, FASGE, MBBS, MD, MS, Attending Doctor, Director, Professor, Division of Hepatology at Sandra Atlas Bass Center for Liver Diseases and Transplantation, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, Northwell Health, 400 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030, United States. ssatapat@northwell.edu
Received: May 7, 2021
Peer-review started: May 7, 2021
First decision: June 15, 2021
Revised: June 21, 2021
Accepted: August 4, 2021
Article in press: August 4, 2021
Published online: August 27, 2021
Processing time: 105 Days and 4.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Liver injury in the form of elevated transaminases and hyperbilirubinemia in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be attributed to multiple factors, including the presence of pre-existing liver disease. The presence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in patients with COVID-19 is likely to make them susceptible to severe forms of liver injury. Given the high prevalence of NAFLD worldwide, it is important to understand the implications of COVID-19 in such patients including role of comorbidities, disease progression, and the severity of COVID-19.