Unlike Common Pneumonia, COVID-19 is a Risk Factor for Multiple Cardiovascular Diseases: A Two-sample Mendelian Randomization Study

This study investigates the differences between COVID-19 and past common forms of pneumonia and to determine if COVID-19 acts as a contributing factor in various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). We retrieved large-sample genome-wide association study data from the Open GWAS database related to COVID-19, bacterial pneumonia (BP), viral pneumonia (VP), stable angina (SA), unstable angina (UA), heart failure (HF), ischemic heart disease (IHD), atrial fibrillation (AF), and myocardial infarction (MI). We selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms with strong correlations as instrumental variables (P < 5E-06), and set the threshold for the F-statistic to be over 10. Five statistical methods were used for analysis including inverse variance weighted, Mendelian randomization-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode, with inverse variance weighted as the primary method. We assessed the reliability of our results through heterogeneity, pleiotropy, and sensitivity testing; Our analysis probed the relationship between COVID-19, BP, VP, and 6 CVDs. COVID-19 infection was found to enhance the incidence of SA, UA, HF, and MI (SA: odds ratio [OR], 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-1.20; P = .002; UA: OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.01-1.29; P = .041; HF: OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.03-1.23; P = .012; MI: OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.02-1.25; P = .032). There was no significant effect on the incidence of AF or IHD (P > .05), and no pleiotropy or sensitivity issues were found in the results. In contrast, neither past common BP nor VP was found to contribute to the progression of these 6 CVDs (P > .05). Unlike past common BP or VP, COVID-19 was found to increase the risks of SA, UA, HF, and MI, with no evidence supporting an increased risk for AF or IHD following COVID-19 infection.