The pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has posed an enormous threat to human health. According to observational studies, abnormal liver and kidney functions and blood cell traits were associated with severe COVID-19, yet the causal risk factors for COVID-19 severity and the underlying mechanism remained elusive. We performed Mendelian randomization analyses to assess the potential causal role of eight liver function biomarkers, one kidney function biomarker, and 14 hematological traits on COVID-19 severity using genetic association summary statistics from Europeans. Our findings showed that albumin, direct bilirubin, white blood cell count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin are casually associated with the risk of severe COVID-19. Notably, lymphocyte count and mean corpuscular hemoglobin had an independent effect on severe COVID-19 risk. These causal evidences provide insights into directions for the risk stratification of individuals with abnormal liver function or blood cell indices and motivate more studies to unveil the roles of these abnormalities in COVID-19 pathogenesis.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Risk factors, mendelian randomization, White blood cells, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, 【초록키워드】 Coronavirus disease 2019, pandemic, Biomarker, Biomarkers, severe COVID-19, Kidney function, Genetic, COVID-19 severity, risk, risk factor, observational studies, risk stratification, Lymphocyte count, Health, COVID-19 pathogenesis, White blood cell, albumin, Liver function, liver, mechanism, Blood, association, Evidence, Bilirubin, individual, Europeans, neutrophil count, hematological, abnormality, Cell, independent, performed, remained, eight, corpuscular hemoglobin, Mendelian randomization analysis, 【제목키워드】 function,