Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Patients With Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis: A National COVID Cohort Collaborative Study

Background & Aims: In patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) with or without cirrhosis, existing studies on the outcomes with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have limited generalizability. We used the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), a harmonized electronic health record dataset of 6.4 million, to describe SARS-CoV-2 outcomes in patients with CLD and cirrhosis.

Methods: We identified all patients with CLD with or without cirrhosis who had SARS-CoV-2 testing in the N3C Data Enclave as of July 1, 2021. We used survival analyses to associate SARS-CoV-2 infection, presence of cirrhosis, and clinical factors with the primary outcome of 30-day mortality.

Results: We isolated 220,727 patients with CLD and SARS-CoV-2 test status: 128,864 (58%) were noncirrhosis/negative, 29,446 (13%) were noncirrhosis/positive, 53,476 (24%) were cirrhosis/negative, and 8941 (4%) were cirrhosis/positive patients. Thirty-day all-cause mortality rates were 3.9% in cirrhosis/negative and 8.9% in cirrhosis/positive patients. Compared to cirrhosis/negative patients, cirrhosis/positive patients had 2.38 times adjusted hazard of death at 30 days. Compared to noncirrhosis/positive patients, cirrhosis/positive patients had 3.31 times adjusted hazard of death at 30 days. In stratified analyses among patients with cirrhosis with increased age, obesity, and comorbid conditions (ie, diabetes, heart failure, and pulmonary disease), SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with increased adjusted hazard of death.

Conclusions: In this study of approximately 221,000 nationally representative, diverse, and sex-balanced patients with CLD; we found SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with cirrhosis was associated with 2.38 times mortality hazard, and the presence of cirrhosis among patients with CLD infected with SARS-CoV-2 was associated with 3.31 times mortality hazard. These results provide an additional impetus for increasing vaccination uptake and further research regarding immune responses to vaccines in patients with severe liver disease.