Genetic Risk Factors For Long COVID

Some people, after getting COVID, go on to have Long COVID. There are various contributing factors to this, including:

• Lifestyle factors that impact general disease-proneness
• Immune-specific factors such as being immunocompromised already
• Genetic factors

We looked at some modifiable factors to improve one’s disease-resistance, yesterday:

Stop Sabotaging Your Gut

And we’ve taken a more big-picture look previously:

Beyond Supplements: The Real Immune-Boosters!

Along with some more systemic issues:

Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them)

But, for when the “don’t get COVID” ship has sailed, one of the big remaining deciding factors with regard to whether one gets Long COVID or not, is genetic

The Long COVID Genes

For those with their 23andMe genetic data to hand…

❝Study findings revealed that three specific genetic loci, HLA-DQA1–HLA-DQB1, ABO, and BPTF–KPAN2–C17orf58, and three phenotypes were at significantly heightened risk, highlighting high-priority populations for interventions against this poorly understood disease.❞

~ Priyanka Nandakumar et al.

For those who don’t, then first: you might consider getting that! Here’s why:

Genetic Testing: Health Benefits & Methods

But also, all is not lost meanwhile:

The same study also found that individuals with genetic predispositions to chronic fatigue, depression, and fibromyalgia, as well as other phenotypes such as autoimmune conditions and cardiometabolic conditions, are at significantly higher risk of long-COVID than individuals without these conditions.

Good news, bad news

Another finding was that women and non-smokers were more likely to get Long COVID, than men and smokers, respectively.

Does that mean that those things are protective against Long COVID, which would be very counterintuitive in the case of smoking?

Well, yes and no; it depends on whether you count “less likely to get Long COVID because of being more likely to just die” as protective against Long COVID.

(Incidentally, estrogen is moderately immune-enhancing, while testosterone is moderately immune-suppressing, so the sex thing was not too surprising. It’s also at least contributory to why women get more autoimmune disorders, while men get more respiratory infections such as colds and the like)

Want to know more?

You can read the paper itself, here:

Multi-ancestry GWAS* of Long COVID identifies immune-related loci and etiological links to chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and depression

*GWAS = Genome-Wide Association Study

Take care!