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Published on: August 11, 2023
The relationship between COVID-19 and stroke and its risk factors, a Mendelian randomization analysis
Chao Tang1, MingHong Xu1, Rongcheng Ruan1
1Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China.
Insights
COVID-19 hospitalization and severity are linked to cardioembolic stroke (CES). This Mendelian randomization study confirms COVID-19 as a risk factor for CES, offering new insights into stroke causes.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Infectious Diseases
- Genetics
Background:
- The association between Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and stroke remains unclear.
- Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis is a valuable tool for investigating causal relationships between exposures and outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the causal relationship between COVID-19 and stroke using MR analysis.
- To determine if COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization, or severity are risk factors for stroke and its subtypes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for COVID-19 (exposure) and stroke (outcome).
- Employed MR analysis to assess causal links between COVID-19 indicators and stroke.
- Integrated experimental and validation groups for meta-analysis.
Main Results:
- A positive causal relationship was found between COVID-19 hospitalization and severity, and cardioembolic stroke (CES).
- Hospitalization (ORmeta=1.11, p<0.001) and severity (ORmeta=1.07, p=0.002) of COVID-19 were significant risk factors for CES.
- Results were supported by validation groups and sensitivity analyses.
Conclusions:
- COVID-19 hospitalization and severity are identified as risk factors for cardioembolic stroke (CES).
- This study provides novel evidence for the role of COVID-19 in the development of CES.
Background:
It remains unclear about the association between stroke and Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between them.
Methods:
In this study, the most recent large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) were selected from the publicly available COVID-19 GWAS meta-analysis (Round 7) as the exposure. Data from a recent original stroke GWAS were used as the outcome for the experimental group, while the stroke GWAS data from the IEU GWAS database were used as the validation group. In addition, an MR analysis was conducted to explore the causal relationships of susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity of COVID-19 with stroke and its subtypes. In addition, the results of the experimental and validation groups were integrated to perform a meta-analysis.
Results:
The MR analysis results corroborated that there was a positively causal relationship between the hospitalization (OR, 1.11; p = 0.015) (ORmeta, 1.11; p < 0.001), and severity (OR, 1.06; p = 0.043) (ORmeta, 1.07; p = 0.002) of COVID-19 and cardioembolic stroke (CES). This result is supported by the validation group and sensitivity analysis.
Conclusion:
This study demonstrates for the first time that COVID-19 hospitalization and COVID-19 severity are risk factors for CES.
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