A new study suggests that postacute COVID syndrome (PACS), a continuing inflammatory state after COVID-19 infection, is tied to a greater risk of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). 

PACS includes symptoms affecting different organ systems, with neurocognitive, autonomic, respiratory, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, psychological, sensory, and dermatologic clusters. Around 50-80% of COVID-19 patients experience one or more clusters of symptoms 3 months after discharge from the hospital.

In this single-center retrospective analysis, investigators identified 235 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from July 2020 through April 2021. They were evaluated for PACS symptoms after a median of 143 days of onset of COVID-19 symptoms. About 77.5% had symptoms of at least one PACS cluster. At a later visit for PACS symptoms, all patients were screened for MAFLD (defined as hepatic steatosis and overweight/obesity or type 2 diabetes). Hepatic steatosis index (HSI) scores could be obtained for 103 patients. Among these, 50% had MAFLD on admission for acute COVID-19, while 48.1% had MAFLD on discharge. At follow-up visit for PACS, 71.3% of the subjects were found to have MAFLD. The findings are published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases… (Medscape)