Cognitive impairments associated with the risk of developing severe COVID-19

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.October 28, 2020

Dementia and other cognitive impairments now appear to be risk factors for developing severe COVID-19, according to research from the University of Georgia. The findings highlight the need for special care for populations with these pre-existing conditions during the pandemic.

In a blinded study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 1,000 diseases and two specific genes to compare the health profiles of COVID-19 patients with those who tested negative, looking for commonalities in COVID-19 patients.

The study, published online in the journal Brain, behavior and immunity, was based on data from the UK Biobank, a long-term study of over 500,000 participants investigating the respective contributions of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to disease development.

Starting in March, the British biobank began reporting the COVID-19 status of its participants. The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics team, led by assistant professor Kaixiong Ye and his postdoc, Jingqi Zhou, promptly linked the state of COVID-19 to electronic health data.

We have adopted a hypothesis-free approach and the statistically most significant ones are cognitive disorders and type 2 diabetes. Right now, we don’t know the mechanisms behind these associations, we just know that they are more common in COVID-19 patients. “

Kaixiong Ye, senior author of the study

By analyzing the genetic factors that make some individuals at higher risk of severe COVID-19, the team focused on two genes: ACE2 and TPMPRSS2, which are known to be critical for the virus to enter human cells.

“In the TMPRSS2 gene, we found that a specific genetic variation is more common in the COVID-19 patient,” he said, adding that while the finding was new at the time, the team now knows that there is more data on the host’s genetic factors than three months ago.

The research team also found that variations in genes related to SARS-CoV-2 infection may be associated with severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.

“And we’re starting to understand how these genetic variations are making a difference,” he said, noting the extraordinary pace of research around the world during the pandemic as scientists work on SARS CoV 2. Since they started in spring 2020, Ye’s group was able to follow up on their previous work and communicate with peers around the world to contribute to the overall body of knowledge about the disease.

“By working on a disease, the whole field is converging together, all over the world, at the same time. It really showcases the power of science,” Ye said. “What my group is actually doing is just data analysis, large-scale data mining, but from vaccine development to patient studies, scientists are attacking the disease from different aspects, and this is moving us forward very quickly. in the fight against COVID-19 “.