Researchers at Sheba Medical Center found that patients with fatty liver disease are at high risk for complications and even mortality from the virus • "Mortality rate among patients - 16.7%"
Intensive care unit at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer
Photography:
Gideon Markovich
A study at Sheba Medical Center points to another group of patients who are at risk for coronary mortality and complications and recommends giving it priority in vaccines.
These are patients with fatty liver, a common disease that occurs in about 20 to 30 percent of the population.
In a study led by Dr. Yana Davidov, a senior specialist at the Sheba Center for Liver Diseases, it was found that coronary mortality rates among patients with fatty liver were almost three times higher than mortality rates among corona patients who did not have any liver disease.
The study was conducted among 382 patients at Sheba Medical Center from the first wave of corona to the end of May 2020, in which the severity of the effect of corona infection in patients with chronic liver disease was examined.
15.4% of the 382 hospitalized had chronic liver disease in the background, while in most cases (80%) it was fatty liver disease.
Among these patients, the mortality rate from Corona was 16.7% compared with 6.8% among Corona patients without liver disease.
Moreover, it was found that the more severe the severity of the liver disease, the higher the mortality rates.
The full study is expected to be published next month in the prestigious European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
"The virus may be attacking the liver"
Prof. Ziv Ben-Ari, director of the Center for Liver Diseases at Sheba, who accompanied the study: "There has been an increase of at least 50% in liver enzymes caused by various coronary vertebrae that develop symptoms. Among other things, the virus may attack the liver directly as it attacks the lungs. Liver damage due to the use of drugs that can be treated with the virus or due to the immune response of the body caused due to the penetration of the virus, causing a 'cytokine storm' that causes inflammation in the liver.
"In patients with fatty liver there is a high prevalence of risk factors that have already been recognized as risk factors for serious morbidity such as obesity, hypertension and overweight. In view of the high mortality rates among corona patients with chronic liver disease in general and fatty liver disease in particular, their definition should be considered. As a risk group to be vaccinated against the virus. "