Li, GHY;
Lam, SKK;
Wong, ICK;
Chu, JKP;
Cheung, CL;
(2021)
Education attainment, intelligence and covid-19: A mendelian randomization study.
Journal of Clinical Medicine
, 10
(21)
, Article 4870. 10.3390/jcm10214870.
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Abstract
Background: Evidence of socioeconomic inequality in COVID-19-related outcomes is emerging, with a higher risk of infection and mortality observed among individuals with lower education attainment. We aimed to evaluate the potential interventions against COVID-19 from the socioeconomic perspective, including improvement in education and intelligence. Methods: With a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach using summary statistics from the largest genome-wide association meta-analysis, univariable analysis was adopted to evaluate the total causal effects of genetically determined education attainment and intelligence on COVID-19 outcomes. Multivariable analysis was performed to dissect the potential mechanisms. Results: Genetic predisposition to higher education attainment by 1 SD (4.2 years) was independently associated with reduced risk of COVID-19 severity (OR = 0.508 [95% CI: 0.417–0.617]; p < 0.001). Genetically higher education attainment also lowered the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization (0.685 [0.593–0.791]; p < 0.001), but the association was attenuated after adjustment for beta estimates of intelligence in multivariable analysis. Genetically higher intelligence was associated with reduced risk of COVID-19 hospitalization (0.780 [0.655–0.930]; p = 0.006), with attenuation of association after adjustment for education attainment. Null association was observed for genetically determined education attainment and intelligence with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusion: Education may act independently and jointly with intelligence in improving the COVID-19 outcomes. Improving education may potentially alleviate the COVID-19-related health inequality.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Education attainment, intelligence and covid-19: A mendelian randomization study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/jcm10214870 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10214870 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). |
| Keywords: | education; intelligence; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Mendelian randomization |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Practice and Policy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10137530 |
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