Causal effects of education, intelligence, and income on COVID-19: evidence from a Mendelian randomization study.

IF 3.8 3区医学 Q2 GENETICS & HEREDITY

Human Genomics Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI:10.1186/s40246-025-00731-y

Yuqing Song, Ancha Baranova, Hongbao Cao, Weihua Yue, Fuquan Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: The protective effects of higher educational attainment (EA) and intelligence on COVID-19 outcomes are not yet understood with regard to their dependency on income. The objective of our study was to examine the overall as well as independent effects of the three psychosocial factors on the susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19. To accomplish this, we utilized genetic correlation, Mendelian randomization (MR), and multivariable MR (MVMR) analyses to evaluate genetic associations between EA, intelligence, household income, and three specific COVID-19 outcomes: SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalized COVID-19, and critical COVID-19.

Results: The genetic correlation analysis revealed that COVID-19 outcomes were negatively correlated with the three psychosocial factors (r_g: -0.19‒-0.36). The MR analysis indicated that genetic liability to EA, intelligence, and income exerted overall protective effects against SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR: 0.86‒0.92), hospitalized COVID-19 (OR: 0.70‒0.80), and critical COVID-19 (OR: 0.65‒0.85). MVMR analysis revealed that elevated levels of EA conferred independent protective effects against SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR: 0.85), hospitalization due to COVID-19 (OR: 0.79), and critical COVID-19 (OR: 0.63). Furthermore, intelligence exhibited a negative association with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR: 0.91), whereas a higher income was linked to an elevated risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR: 1.13).

Conclusions: Our findings indicated that EA could significantly reduce the risk and severity of COVID-19, regardless of intelligence and income. However, the impact of intelligence or income on COVID-19 severity was not supported by our research.

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教育、智力和收入对COVID-19的因果影响：来自孟德尔随机化研究的证据。

背景：高等教育程度（EA）和智力对COVID-19结局的保护作用，就其对收入的依赖程度而言，尚不清楚。本研究的目的是研究这三种社会心理因素对COVID-19易感性和严重程度的整体和独立影响。为此，我们利用遗传相关性、孟德尔随机化（MR）和多变量MR （MVMR）分析来评估EA、智力、家庭收入和三种特定COVID-19结局（SARS-CoV-2感染、住院COVID-19和危重型COVID-19）之间的遗传关联。结果：遗传相关分析显示，COVID-19转归与3种心理社会因素呈负相关（rg: -0.19—0.36）。MR分析显示，EA、智力和收入的遗传倾向对SARS-CoV-2感染（OR: 0.86-0.92）、住院COVID-19 （OR: 0.70-0.80）和危重COVID-19 （OR: 0.65-0.85）具有总体保护作用。MVMR分析显示，EA水平升高对SARS-CoV-2感染（OR: 0.85）、因COVID-19住院（OR: 0.79）和重症COVID-19 （OR: 0.63）具有独立的保护作用。此外，智力与SARS-CoV-2感染风险呈负相关（OR: 0.91），而较高的收入与SARS-CoV-2感染风险升高相关（OR: 1.13）。结论：我们的研究结果表明，无论智力和收入如何，EA都可以显著降低COVID-19的风险和严重程度。然而，我们的研究并未支持智力或收入对COVID-19严重程度的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Human Genomics GENETICS & HEREDITY-

CiteScore

6.00

自引率

2.20%

发文量

审稿时长

11 weeks

期刊介绍： Human Genomics is a peer-reviewed, open access, online journal that focuses on the application of genomic analysis in all aspects of human health and disease, as well as genomic analysis of drug efficacy and safety, and comparative genomics. Topics covered by the journal include, but are not limited to: pharmacogenomics, genome-wide association studies, genome-wide sequencing, exome sequencing, next-generation deep-sequencing, functional genomics, epigenomics, translational genomics, expression profiling, proteomics, bioinformatics, animal models, statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, human population genetics and comparative genomics.