The earliest evidence showed that COVID-19 patients are even more susceptible to get manifested from complications in the presence of a multimorbid status, including metabolic syndrome. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), owing to several metabolic anomalies, seems to be a potential risk factor for contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection and developing related complications. This is attributed to the interplay of chronically active inflammatory pathways in NAFLD- and COVID-19-associated acute cytokine storm. The risk of severity of disease could also be due to altered liver function, mitigated by NAFLD. The present review studied current literature to evaluate the relationship between NAFLD and severe COVID-19, irrespective of obesity, which is also a known risk factor for both NAFLD and COVID-19. The result of the study revealed that NAFLD is a predictor of severe COVID-19, after adjustment for the presence of obesity (OR 2.358; 95% CI: 1.902–2.923). 

Source: Sachdeva S, Khandait H, Kopel J, Aloysius MM, Desai R, Goyal H. NAFLD and COVID-19: a Pooled Analysis [published online ahead of print, 2020 Nov 6]. SN Compr Clin Med. 2020;1-4.