Transaminitis as a predictor of poor clinical outcomes in pregnant
patients infected with COVID-19: retrospective case series
Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the effects of
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on liver enzymes in pregnant
patients and to determine the significance of transaminitis as a
predictor of worse clinical outcomes. Design: Case series. Setting:
Tertiary care medical center. Population: 31 pregnant patients with a
positive COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and 20 infants
who presented during March 25, 2020, to May 26, 2020. Methods: Maternal
and neonatal outcomes were compared between patients with transaminitis
and without transaminitis using one tailed Mann-Whitney test for
nonparametric data and the fisher’s exact test for categorical data.
Main outcome measures: Worse maternal outcomes between the groups were
defined as need for intubation, oxygen supplementation, intensive care
unit (ICU) admission, maternal death, and length of hospital stay.
Results: Of the 31 patients with COVID-19, 10/29 (34.5%) were found to
have transaminitis. The patients with transaminitis had increased oxygen
requirements, increased rate of intubation and ICU admissions. Neonatal
outcomes in patients with transaminitis included earlier gestational age
at delivery and lower birth weights, but neither were statistically
significant. Conclusion: Our study revealed that patients with COVID-19
and concomitant transaminitis had worse clinical outcomes in the mother
when compared to those without transaminitis. Further studies should be
conducted to explore this link between abnormal liver studies and poor
outcomes in pregnant patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Keywords:
Coronavirus, COVID-19, transaminitis, pregnancy Tweetable abstract:
Pregnant patients with COVID-19 and transaminitis had worse outcomes
than ones without transaminitis.