Causal association of the brain structure with the susceptibility, hospitalisation, and severity of COVID-19: A large-scale genetic correlation study.

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Brain structure is related to its ability to resist external pathogens. Furthermore, there are several abnormal anatomical brain events and central system symptoms associated with COVID-19. This study, which was conducted based on genetic variables, aimed to identify the causal association between brain structure and COVID-19 phenotypes. We performed a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis using genetic variables obtained from large genome-wide association studies as instruments to identify the potential causal effects of various brain imaging-derived phenotypes (BIDPs) traits on susceptibility, hospitalisation, and severity of COVID-19. We explored the genetic correlations of 1325 BIDPs with the susceptibility, hospitalisation, and severity of COVID-19 using Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression. We observed a causal relationship between increased cortical thickness of the left inferior temporal area and an increased risk of increased COVID-19 infection (p=4.29×10-4 ) and hospitalisation (p=3.67×10-3 ). Moreover, the larger total surface area of the whole brain was negatively correlated with the risk of hospitalisation for COVID-19. Furthermore, there was a significant causal association between increased cerebrospinal fluid volume and decreased severity of COVID-19 (p =3.74×10-3 ). We provide new insights into the causal association between BIDPs and COVID-19 phenotypes, which may help elucidate the aetiology of COVID-19. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.