Association of 25 hydroxyvitamin D concentration with risk of COVID-19: a Mendelian randomization study

Liu, D.; Tian, Q.; Zhang, J.; Hou, H.; Wang, W.; Meng, Q.; Wang, Y.

Background In observational studies, 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentration has been associated with an increased risk of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, it remains unclear whether this association is causal. Methods We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to explore the causal relationship between 25OHD concentration and COVID-19, using summary data from the genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and using 25OHD concentration-related SNPs as instrumental variables (IVs). Results MR analysis did not show any evidence of a causal association of 25OHD concentration with COVID-19 susceptibility and severity (OR=1.168, 95% CI 0.956-1.427; OR=0.889, 95% CI 0.549-1.439). Sensitivity analyses using different instruments and statistical models yielded similar findings, suggesting the robustness of the causal association. No obvious pleiotropy bias and heterogeneity were observed. Conclusion The MR analysis showed that there might be no linear causal relationship of 25OHD concentration with COVID-19 susceptibility and severity.