Abstract This study aims to evaluate the effect of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) on the susceptibility and consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). We retrospectively collected data from 218 adult COVID‐19 patients who showed no evidence of excessive alcohol consumption and underwent abdominal ultrasound examinations. Of these patients, 39.4% patients had been diagnosed with NAFLD, which indicates a much higher prevalence of NAFLD than that reported in the general population. Significantly elevated white blood cell count ( p = 0.008), alanine aminotransferase ( p = 0.000), aspartate aminotransferase ( p = 0.006) and C reactive protein ( p = 0.012) were found in the patients with NAFLD. These patients also had significantly higher proportions of hypertension ( p = 0.006) and diabetes ( p = 0.049) than the non‐NAFLD cases. No significant differences existed in the severity, mortality, viral shedding time and length of hospital stay between patients with or without NAFLD in the sample population. However, subgroup analyses found that in patients with normal body mass index (BMI), NAFLD sufferers were more likely to experience a severe event (30.0% vs 11.5%, p = 0.021). Kaplan‐Meier curve (log‐rank p = 0.017) and Cox regression (HR = 3.26, 95% CI: 1.17–9.04, p = 0.023) analyses confirmed that before and after adjusting for gender, age and comorbidities, NAFLD patients with normal BMI had a higher incidence of suffering severe events. People with NAFLD may have a higher proportion of COVID‐19. NAFLD may be correlated with the severity of COVID‐19 patients in the normal BMI group.
【저자키워드】 COVID‐19, susceptibility, outcome, body mass index, Liver injury, non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, Mortality, severity, Comorbidities, viral shedding, Gender, hypertension, COVID‐19, Prevalence, White blood cell, Patient, Aspartate aminotransferase, age, Fatty liver, General population, incidence, BMI, disease, patients, Evidence, Analysis, Cox regression, Hospital stay, NAFLD, alanine aminotransferase, C reactive protein, significant difference, collected data, consequence, proportion, reported, the patient, diagnosed, elevated, events, indicate, correlated, significantly higher, much higher, evaluate the effect, diabete, COVID‐19 patient, excessive alcohol consumption, NAFLD patient, 【제목키워드】 Retrospective study, Fatty liver, disease,