Elevated serum ferritin level effectively discriminates severity illness and liver injury of coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia

AIM: Ferritin is a hepatic protein that plays vital roles in diagnosing and predicting diseases, but its potential in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unknown. METHOD: We collected clinical records from 79 COVID-19 patients at Wuhan Union hospital (China). Spearman's correlation analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were employed. RESULTS: < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: It suggests that ferritin could act as an easy-to-use tool to identify liver injury and severity illness and predict the prognosis of COVID-19 patients. Intensive surveillance is necessary for patients with abnormal ferritin levels.