Interplay between the genetics of personality traits, severe psychiatric disorders and COVID-19 host genetics in the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection
Creators: name: Chen, Chi-Hua
name: Konrad, Carsten
name: Fallgatter, Andreas J.
name: Dietrich, Detlef E.
name: Papiol, Sergi
name: Schulze, Thomas G.
name: Andlauer, Till F. M.
name: Comes, Ashley L.
name: Baune, Bernhardt T.
name: Arolt, Volker
name: Figge, Christian
name: Juckel, Georg
name: Heilbronner, Maria
name: Klöhn-Saghatolislam, Farahnaz
name: Amelang, Manfred
name: Schulte, Eva C.
name: Adorjan, Kristina
name: Loerbroks, Adrian
name: Stürmer, Til
name: Witt, Stephanie H.
name: Heilmann-Heimbach, Stefanie
name: Rietschel, Marcella
name: Falkai, Peter
name: Forstner, Andreas J.
name: Degenhardt, Franziska
name: Reininghaus, Eva
name: Senner, Fanny
name: Foo, Jerome
name: Poisel, Eric
name: Kohshour, Mojtaba Oraki
name: Nöthen, Markus M.
name: Anghelescu, Ion-George
name: Kalman, Janos L.
name: von Hagen, Martin
name: Streit, Fabian
name: Andreassen, Ole A.
name: Reimer, Jens
name: Zimmermann, Jörg
name: Wiltfang, Jens
name: Budde, Monika
name: Schmauss, Max
name: Vogl, Thomas
name: Anderson-Schmidt, Heike
name: Schaupp, Sabrina K.
name: Reich-Erkelenz, Daniela
name: Gade, Katrin
name: Heilbronner, Urs
name: Spitzer, Carsten
name: Dannlowski, Udo
name: Lang, Fabian U.
name: Jäger, Markus
Publisher: name: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Year: 2021

description: <p>BACKGROUND: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, with its impact on our way of life, is affecting our experiences and mental health. Notably, individuals with mental disorders have been reported to have a higher risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Personality traits could represent an important determinant of preventative health behaviour and, therefore, the risk of contracting the virus. AIMS: We examined overlapping genetic underpinnings between major psychiatric disorders, personality traits and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHOD: Linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to explore the genetic correlations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) susceptibility with psychiatric disorders and personality traits based on data from the largest available respective genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In two cohorts (the PsyCourse (<em>n</em> = 1346) and the HeiDE (<em>n</em> = 3266) study), polygenic risk scores were used to analyse if a genetic association between, psychiatric disorders, personality traits and COVID-19 susceptibility exists in individual-level data. RESULTS: We observed no significant genetic correlations of COVID-19 susceptibility with psychiatric disorders. For personality traits, there was a significant genetic correlation for COVID-19 susceptibility with extraversion (<em>P</em> = 1.47 &times; 10<sup>-5</sup>; genetic correlation 0.284). Yet, this was not reflected in individual-level data from the PsyCourse and HeiDE studies. CONCLUSIONS: We identified no significant correlation between genetic risk factors for severe psychiatric disorders and genetic risk for COVID-19 susceptibility. Among the personality traits, extraversion showed evidence for a positive genetic association with COVID-19 susceptibility, in one but not in another setting. Overall, these findings highlight a complex contribution of genetic and non-genetic components in the interaction between COVID-19 susceptibility and personality traits or mental disorders.</p>