Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug;115(8):1286-1288.
doi: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000000732.

Lipase Elevation in Patients With COVID-19

Julia McNabb-Baltar  1   2 , David X Jin  1   2 , Amit S Grover  2   3 , Walker D Redd  2   4 , Joyce C Zhou  2 , Kelly E Hathorn  2   5 , Thomas R McCarty  2   5 , Ahmad N Bazarbashi  2   5 , Lin Shen  2   5 , Walter W Chan  2   5
Affiliations

Lipase Elevation in Patients With COVID-19

Julia McNabb-Baltar et al. Am J Gastroenterol. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: Although coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been associated with gastrointestinal manifestations, its effect on the pancreas remains unclear. We aimed to assess the frequency and characteristics of hyperlipasemia in patients with COVID-19.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients across 6 US centers with COVID-19.

Results: Of 71 patients, 9 (12.1%) developed hyperlipasemia, with 2 (2.8%) greater than 3 times upper limit of normal. No patient developed acute pancreatitis. Hyperlipasemia was not associated with poor outcomes or symptoms.

Discussion: Although a mild elevation in serum lipase was observed in some patients with COVID-19, clinical acute pancreatitis was not seen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Guarantor of the article: Julia McNabb-Baltar, MD, MPH.

Specific author contributions: Study design: J.M.B., A.S.G., W.W.C.; Clinical Data Collection: W.D.R., J.C.A., K.E.H., T.R.M., A.N.B., L.S., W.W.C.; Data Analysis: W.W.C., J.C.A., K.E.H., T.R.M., A.N.B., L.S.; Manuscript writing J.M.B., D.X.J., W.W.C. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Financial support: None to report.

Potential competing interests: None to report.

References

    1. Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in wuhan, China: A descriptive study. Lancet 2020;395(10223):507–13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang F, Wang H, Fan J, et al. Pancreatic injury patterns in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Gastroenterology 2020. [Epub ahead of print April 1, 2020.] doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.03.055. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banks PA, Bollen TL, Dervenis C, et al. Classification of acute pancreatitis—2012: Revision of the atlanta classification and definitions by international consensus. Gut 2013;62(1):102–11. - PubMed
    1. Hamming I, Timens W, Bulthuis ML, et al. Tissue distribution of ACE2 protein, the functional receptor for SARS coronavirus. A first step in understanding SARS pathogenesis. J Pathol 2004;203(2):631–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jin DX, Yang AL, Suleiman SL, et al. Marked serum lipase elevations are associated with longer hospitalizations in patients with non-pancreatic hyperlipasemia. Gastroenterology. 2019;156(6):S-1033–S-1034.

MeSH terms