Open AccessCOVID-19 susceptibility variants associate with blood clots, thrombophlebitis and circulatory diseases
Author(s) -
Areti Papadopoulou,
Hanan Musa,
Mathura Sivaganesan,
David McCoy,
Panos Deloukas,
Eirini Marouli
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0256988
Subject(s) - covid-19 , circulatory system , thrombophlebitis , medicine , coronavirus infections , virology , pathology , thrombosis , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak
Epidemiological studies suggest that individuals with comorbid conditions including diabetes, chronic lung, inflammatory and vascular disease, are at higher risk of adverse COVID-19 outcomes. Genome-wide association studies have identified several loci associated with increased susceptibility and severity for COVID-19. However, it is not clear whether these associations are genetically determined or not. We used a Phenome-Wide Association (PheWAS) approach to investigate the role of genetically determined COVID-19 susceptibility on disease related outcomes. PheWAS analyses were performed in order to identify traits and diseases related to COVID-19 susceptibility and severity, evaluated through a predictive COVID-19 risk score. We utilised phenotypic data in up to 400,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, including Hospital Episode Statistics and General Practice data. We identified a spectrum of associations between both genetically determined COVID-19 susceptibility and severity with a number of traits. COVID-19 risk was associated with increased risk for phlebitis and thrombophlebitis (OR = 1.11, p = 5.36e -08 ). We also identified significant signals between COVID-19 susceptibility with blood clots in the leg (OR = 1.1, p = 1.66e -16 ) and with increased risk for blood clots in the lung (OR = 1.12, p = 1.45 e -10 ). Our study identifies significant association of genetically determined COVID-19 with increased blood clot events in leg and lungs. The reported associations between both COVID-19 susceptibility and severity and other diseases adds to the identification and stratification of individuals at increased risk, adverse outcomes and long-term effects.