Characteristics and Mechanism of Liver Injury in 2019 Coronavirus Disease

Li, Jie; Fan, Jian-Gao

Recently, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published the largest case series to date of COVID-19 in mainland China. Among 72,314 case records (updated through February11, 2020), 44,672 (62%) were classified as confirmed cases of COVID-19, 16,186 (22%) as suspected cases, 10,567 (15%) as clinically-diagnosed cases, and 889 (1%) as asymptomatic cases. In total, 87% of the cases represented ages 30 to 79 years-old. Among 44,415 confirmed cases, 14% cases were classified as severe and 5% as critical. There were 1023 deaths (2.3%) among the 44,672 confirmed cases, all having involved critical cases. The case-fatality rate (CFR) was 8.0% in those aged 70 to 79 years and 14.8% in those aged 80 years and older. The CFR was elevated among those with underlying diseases (10.5% for cardiovascular disease, 7.3% for mellitus diabetes, 6.3% for chronic respiratory disease, 6.0% for hypertension, and 5.6% for cancer). 10 However, the information regarding coexisting liver disease and liver-related morbidity and mortality were not available in either article.