Homozygous-Recessive Characteristics as a Biomarker of Predisposition for COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a new form of severe acute respiratory syndrome, has caused a global pandemic. The aim of this study was to analyze homozygous-recessive characteristics (HRC) in the group of COVID-19 patients, considering their gender, forms of the disease (mild and severe symptoms), risk factors: hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, hyperlipidemia, smoking habits, and the distribution of ABO blood group. Using the HRC test, we analyzed 20 HRCs in a sample of 321 individuals: 205 patients and 116 controls. The average HRC in patients was significantly higher than controls, as well as in patients with severe symptoms compared to patients with mild symptoms. The patients with higher HRC (cut-off ≤5.5) experienced a significantly increased risk of disease of 2.3 times (OR = 2.315, p < .0005). Our results indicate that the HRC test could be used as a screening in recognizing predisposition for COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; genetic predisposition; homozygous-recessive characteristics.

Figure 1.

Distribution of homozygous-recessive characteristics (HRC) in COVID-19 patients with mild and severe symptoms and the control sample (control sample (C): N = 116, x_hrc/20 = 4.48 ± 1.78; patients, mild symptoms (Pm): N = 114, x_hrc/20 = 6.22 ± 1.36; patients, severe symptoms (Ps): N = 91, x_hrc/20 = 7.41 ± 1.62).

Figure 2.

Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve for homozygous-recessive characteristics (HRC). The area under the ROC curve (95% CI) is 0.828 (0.779–0.876, p < .0005).