NAFLD and NASH are obesity-independent risk factors in COVID-19: Matched real-world results from the large PINC AI™ Healthcare Database

Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are potential risk factors for severe pneumonia and other infections. Available data on the role of NAFLD/NASH in worsening outcomes for COVID-19 are controversial and might be confounded by comorbidities.Methods: We used the PINC AI (TM) Healthcare Data Special Release (PHD-SR) to identify patients with COVID-19 (ICD-10) at approximately 900 hospitals in the United States. We performed exact matching (age, gender, and ethnicity) for patients with or without NAFLD/NASH, adjusting for demographics (admission type, region) and comorbidities (e.g., obesity, diabetes) through inverse probability of treatment weighting and then analysed hospitalisation-related outcomes.Results: Among 513 623 patients with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), we identified 14 667 with NAFLD/NASH who could be matched to 14 667 controls. Mean age was 57.6 (+/- 14.9) years, 50.8% were females and 43.7% were non-Hispanic whites. After matching, baseline characteristics (e.g., age, ethnicity, and gender) and comorbidities (e.g., hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease) were well balanced (standard difference (SD) <.10), except for cirrhosis and malignancies. Patients with COVID-19 and NAFLD/NASH had higher FIB-4 scores, a significantly longer hospital length of stay (LOS) and intensive care LOS than controls (9.4 vs. 8.3 days, and 10.4 vs. 9.3, respectively), even after adjusting for cirrhosis and malignancies. Patients with COVID-19 and NAFLD/NASH also had significantly higher risk of needing invasive mandatory ventilation (IMV) (odds ratio 1.0727; 95% CI 1.0095-1.1400). Other outcomes were similar in both groups.Conclusions: In this large real-world cohort of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 in the United States, NAFLD/NASH were obesity-independent risk factors for complicated disease courses.