| Title: | Lifestyle, ethnicity, and genetic factors for COVID-19 infection and severity |
| Lead Institution: | Imperial College London |
| Principal investigator: | Dr Weihua Zhang |
Application 65210
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About
The COVID-19 pandemic has a huge global impact, yet its long-term effects are to be revealed. The disease is caused by infection of a virus called SARS-CoV-2, to which people may respond differently. The severity of infection ranges from asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe to death. Current research has shown that advanced age, male gender, smoking, and physical inactivity are related to COVID-19 infection and adverse outcomes. Underlining health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart and lung diseases, are associated with unfavorable outcomes. In the UK, South Asians and Afro-Caribbeans have shown a disproportionately higher risk of adverse outcomes than white Europeans. A strong immune system is important in our host defense to fight against foreign invaders. It is affected by the aforementioned factors, diet, nutrition, genetic composition, and other factors. To date, research data on lifestyle and genetic factors related to COVID-19 infection and severity are scarce. Using UK Biobank data, we aim to study how lifestyle factors, including diet and nutrition, environment, ethnicity, health status, and genetic factors affect people's response to the infection, in other words, the tendency to be infected and the severity of the disease. We will explore the factors that explain the excess risk in UK minorities, in particular, South Asians, in combining with additional data. Prevention is better than cure. The knowledge we gained may guide us in the prevention and mitigation of current and future epidemics or pandemics from this or other deadly viruses. For instance, apart from wearing face masks, washing hands, social distancing, and vaccination, proactively adopting a simple healthy lifestyle may enhance our host defense (immunity) and lower the risk of infection and severe outcomes.2 Publications
| Pub ID | Title | Author(s) | Year | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8041 | Accelerated ageing is associated with increased COVID-19 severity and differences across ethnic groups may exist | Joshua Reeves (+2) | 2022 | Frontiers in Public Health |
| 11607 | Associations between polygenic risk score and covid-19 susceptibility and severity across ethnic groups: UK Biobank analysis | Raabia Farooqi (+2) | 2023 | BMC Medical Genomics |
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