Visceral adipose tissue and risk of COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity: A Mendelian randomization study

Background Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly evolved as a global pandemic. Observational studies found that visceral adipose tissue (VAT) increased the likelihood of worse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Whereas, whether VAT is causally associated with the susceptibility, hospitalization, or severity of COVID-19 remains unconfirmed. We aimed to investigate the causal associations between VAT and susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity of COVID-19. Methods We applied a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to infer causal associations between VAT and COVID-19 outcomes. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms significantly associated with VAT were derived from a large-scale genome-wide association study. The random-effects inverse-variance weighted method was used as the main MR approach, complemented by three other MR methods. Additional sensitivity analyses were also performed. Results Genetically predicted higher VAT mass was causally associated with higher risks of COVID-19 susceptibility [odds ratios (ORs) = 1.13; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09–1.17; P = 4.37 × 10−12], hospitalization (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.38–1.65; P = 4.14 × 10−20), and severity (OR = 1.58; 95% CI = 1.38–1.82; P = 7.34 × 10−11). Conclusion This study provided genetic evidence that higher VAT mass was causally associated with higher risks of susceptibility, hospitalization, and severity of COVID-19. VAT can be a useful tool for risk assessment in the general population and COVID-19 patients, as well as an important prevention target.