Glutamate Dehydrogenase Enzyme Can Early Predict Liver Injury in Children with COVID-19

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to liver injury by various mechanisms. As liver disease is more noticeable in severe cases than in mild cases, liver injury can be an indicator of disease progression. Glutamate dehydro-genase (GLDH), an enzyme found in the matrix of mitochon-dria, enters the oxidative deamination of glutamate. The liver is rich in mitochondria, so it is highly enriched with GLDH. It is more specific to liver injury than alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) and increases earlier. Aim of Study: This study aimed to evaluate liver affection in COVID-19 children and assess the effectiveness of GLDH as a biomarker of liver injury in COVID-19 patients. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was con-ducted at Children’s Hospital, Ain Shams University, Egypt, on 73 infants and children diagnosed with COVID-19 by re-al-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 73 healthy subjects as the control group. The severity of COVID-19 was assessed clinically, biochemically, and radiologically. Serum GLDH levels were measured for both patients and controls. Results: There was a highly significant difference between the patient and control groups as regards GLDH levels (p=0.00). There was a significant positive correlation between the levels of GLDH, ALT (p=0.018), and serum ferritin (p=0.001). How-ever, there was a significant negative correlation between the levels of GLDH and serum creatinine (p=0.009), as well as the ejection fraction of the heart (p=0.002). Conclusion: GLDHis an effective biomarker in the diag-nosis of liver injury in COVID-19 patients.