AUTHOR=Chen Lu , Sun Xingang , Han Deheng , Zhong Jiawei , Zhang Han , Zheng Liangrong 

TITLE=Visceral adipose tissue and risk of COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity: A Mendelian randomization study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1023935

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1023935

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly evolved as a global pandemic. Observational studies found that visceral adipose tissue (VAT) increased the likelihood of worse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Whereas, whether VAT is causally associated with the susceptibility, hospitalization, or severity of COVID-19 remains unconfirmed. We aimed to investigate the causal associations between VAT and susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity of COVID-19.
Methods: We applied a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to infer causal associations between VAT and COVID-19 outcomes. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms significantly associated with VAT were derived from a large-scale genome-wide association study. The random-effects inverse-variance weighted method was used as the main MR approach, complemented by three other MR methods. Additional sensitivity analyses were also performed.
Results: Genetically predicted higher VAT mass was causally associated with higher risks of COVID-19 susceptibility [odds ratios (ORs) = 1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09-1.17; P = 4.37×10-12], hospitalization (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.38-1.65; P = 4.14×10-20), and severity (OR = 1.58; 95% CI = 1.38-1.82; P = 7.34×10-11).
Conclusion: This study provided genetic evidence that higher VAT mass was causally associated with higher risks of susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity of COVID-19. VAT can be a useful tool for risk assessment in the general population and COVID-19 patients, as well as an important prevention target.