Chronic liver disease-relate d mortality in diabetes before and during the COVID-19 in the United States

Background: Global pandemic of COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge. COVID-19 has pre-dominantly targeted vulnerable populations with pre-existing chronic medical diseases, such as diabetes and chronic liver disease.Aims: We estimated chronic liver disease-related mortality trends among individuals with diabetes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Utilizing the US national mortality database and Census, we determined the quarterly age -standardized chronic liver disease-related mortality and quarterly percentage change (QPC) among indi-viduals with diabetes.Results: The quarterly age-standardized mortality for chronic liver disease and/or cirrhosis among in-dividuals with diabetes remained stable before the COVID-19 pandemic and sharply increased during the COIVD-19 pandemic at a QPC of 8.5%. The quarterly mortality from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) increased markedly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mor-tality for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection declined with a quarterly rate of-3.3% before the COVID-19 pandemic and remained stable during the COVID-19 pandemic. While ALD-and HCV-related mortality was higher in men than in women, NAFLD-related mortality in women was higher than in men.Conclusions: The sharp increase in mortality for chronic liver disease and/or cirrhosis among individuals with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased mortality from NAFLD and ALD.(c) 2022 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study aimed to estimate the mortality trends of chronic liver disease among individuals with diabetes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that the mortality rate of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis significantly increased among individuals with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the mortality rate of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and alcohol-related liver disease. Overall, individuals with diabetes were more likely to die from chronic liver disease during the COVID-19 pandemic.