Ursodeoxycholic acid and long COVID in steatotic liver disease: a nationwide cohort study

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BACKGROUND/AIMS: Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) downregulates angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the cellular entry receptor for SARS-CoV-2, and may reduce acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity. However, it remains unknown whether UDCA prevents long COVID outcomes in patients with steatotic liver disease (SLD)-a population vulnerable to adverse outcomes. We investigated the association between pre-infection UDCA use and risk of long COVID outcomes in patients with SLD. METHODS: We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study using the Korean COVID-19 registry linked to National Health Insurance Service claims data (2019-2022). Patients with SLD (fatty liver index ≥30) who experienced COVID-19 were included. Exposure was defined as at least one UDCA prescription within the 90 days preceding infection. Outcomes of interest were 20 incident long COVID conditions across eight organ systems assessed ≥84 days post-infection. After propensity score (PS) fine stratification, hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Cox regression. RESULTS: Among 469,108 patients with SLD and COVID-19, 23,560 (5.0%) were UDCA users. After PS fine stratification weighting, UDCA use was not associated with reduced risk for most long COVID outcomes. A protective association was observed for atrial fibrillation (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.30-0.88), whereas increased risks were found for type 2 diabetes mellitus (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.09-1.42) and epilepsy (HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.09-2.61). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-infection UDCA use was not associated with reduced risk for most long COVID outcomes in patients with SLD. The observed associations warrant cautious interpretation given potential residual confounding and surveillance bias.

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