Causal relationship between physical activity, leisure sedentary behaviors and COVID-19 risk: a Mendelian randomization study
Chen et al.,
Causal relationship between physical activity, leisure sedentary behaviors and COVID-19 risk: a Mendelian..,
Journal of Translational Medicine, doi:10.1186/s12967-022-03407-6
UK Biobank Mendelian randomization study showing decreased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization with genetically predicted accelerometer-assessed physical activity, and increased risk with television watching.
Chen et al., 13 May 2022, United Kingdom, peer-reviewed, 7 authors.
Contact:
caijh6@mail2.sysu.edu.cn (corresponding author), starbless2003@126.com, huangyn68@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Abstract: Chen et al. Journal of Translational Medicine
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-022-03407-6
(2022) 20:216
Journal of
Translational Medicine
Open Access
RESEARCH
Causal relationship between physical
activity, leisure sedentary behaviors
and COVID‑19 risk: a Mendelian randomization
study
Xiong Chen1,2†, Xiaosi Hong3†, Wenjing Gao4, Shulu Luo5, Jiahao Cai6*, Guochang Liu1,2* and Yinong Huang7*
Abstract
Background: The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) poses an enormous threat to public health worldwide, and the ensuing management of social isolation has greatly decreased opportunities for physical activity (PA)
and increased opportunities for leisure sedentary behaviors (LSB). Given that both PA and LSB have been established
as major influencing factors for obesity, diabetes and cardiometabolic syndrome, whether PA/LSB in turn affects the
susceptibility to COVID-19 by disrupting metabolic homeostasis remains to be explored. In this study, we aimed to
systematically evaluate the causal relationship between PA/LSB and COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization and severity using a Mendelian randomization study.
Methods: Data were obtained from a large-scale PA dataset (N = 377,000), LSB dataset (N = 422,218) and COVID-19
Host Genetics Initiative (N = 2,586,691). The causal effects were estimated with inverse variance weighted, MR-Egger,
weighted median and MR-PRESSO. Sensitivity analyses were implemented with Cochran’s Q test, MR-Egger intercept
test, MR-PRESSO, leave-one-out analysis and the funnel plot. Risk factor analyses were further conducted to investigate the potential mediators.
Results: Genetically predicted accelerometer-assessed PA decreased the risk for COVID-19 hospitalization (OR = 0.93,
95% CI 0.88–0.97; P = 0.002), while leisure television watching significantly increased the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization (OR = 1.55, 95% CI 1.29–1.88; P = 4.68 × 10–6) and disease severity (OR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.33–2.56; P = 0.0002) after
Bonferroni correction. No causal effects of self-reported moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), accelerometer
fraction of accelerations > 425 milligravities, computer use or driving on COVID-19 progression were observed. Risk
factor analyses indicated that the above causal associations might be mediated by several metabolic risk factors,
†
Xiong Chen and Xiaosi Hong contributed equally to this work
*Correspondence: caijh6@mail2.sysu.edu.cn; starbless2003@126.com;
huangyn68@mail.sysu.edu.cn
1
Department of Pediatric Urology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s
Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
6
Department of Neurology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical
Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
7
Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun YatSen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which
permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or
other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If..
Please send us corrections, updates, or comments. Vaccines and
treatments are complementary. All practical, effective, and safe means should
be used based on risk/benefit analysis. No treatment, vaccine, or intervention
is 100% available and effective for all current and future variants. We do not
provide medical advice. Before taking any medication, consult a qualified
physician who can provide personalized advice and details of risks and
benefits based on your medical history and situation.
FLCCC and
WCH
provide treatment protocols.
Submit