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Updated: Jul 12, 2025
07:42
A Data-Driven Approach to Quantifying Immune States in Sepsis
Published on: February 7, 2025
206
No causal association between COVID-19 and sepsis: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study
Hao Lu1, Yu Cao1, Ming Zhong1,2
1School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Frontiers in Immunology
|October 25, 2023
Summary
This study found no evidence that COVID-19 causes sepsis or that sepsis increases COVID-19 risk. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between these conditions.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Epidemiology
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Sepsis and COVID-19 share known associations.
- The causal link between COVID-19 and sepsis remains unclear.
- Investigating bidirectional causality is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if COVID-19 increases sepsis risk.
- To ascertain if sepsis elevates the risk of COVID-19 infection.
- To explore the causal relationship using Mendelian randomization.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a bidirectional 2-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) analysis.
- Employed publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data.
- Selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for COVID-19 and sepsis datasets based on significance thresholds.
Main Results:
- No causal effect of COVID-19 on sepsis risk was observed (P > 0.05 for all COVID-19 variants).
- No causal effect of sepsis on the risk of COVID-19 infection was found (P > 0.05 for all COVID-19 variants).
- Inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis confirmed the lack of significant causal links.
Conclusions:
- The study does not support a causal relationship between COVID-19 and sepsis.
- Findings indicate no causal link in either direction between these two conditions.
- Further investigation in large cohorts is recommended to explore the bidirectional relationship.
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