Researchers at the University of Exeter School of Medicine and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine analyzed data from the UK Biobank and found a high risk of severe COVID-19 infection among participants in European ancestry who carry two faulty copies of the APOE gene (named e4e4). One in 36 people of European ancestry has two faulty copies of this gene, and this is known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease by up to 14 times*, as well as increase the risk of cardiovascular disease..

Now, a research team has found that carrying these gene mutations doubles the risk of COVID-19 — even in people who haven't developed the disease, according to Pannochka, an online publication for girls and women aged 14 to 35.. net Previously, the team found that people with dementia are three times more likely to get severe COVID-19, but they are not one of the groups advertised for protection or shelter in place for health reasons. Part of the increased risk effect may be the impact of the high prevalence of the virus in nursing homes. However, a new study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences shows that a genetic component may also be at play.. Researchers have found that people with the e4e4 APOE genotype are twice as likely to develop severe COVID-19 than people with the common e3e3 form of the APOE gene.. The team used data from a UK Biobank study that collected health and genetic data from 500,000 people..

Most people in the population and sample size have not yet been exposed to the virus. In this analysis, 2.36% (n \u003d 9,022) of participants with European ancestry (n \u003d 382,188) had the defective ApoE e4e4 gene, but 5.13% (n \u003d 37) of those who tested positive for COVID-19 (n.

Co-author Dr Chia-Ling Kuo of UConn School of Medicine said: “This is an amazing result because we can now pinpoint exactly how this defective gene causes vulnerability to COVID-19.. It can lead to new ideas.”. It's also important because it shows yet again that the increase in disease risk that seems inevitable with aging may actually be due to specific biological differences that may help us understand why some people remain active until age 100 or older..

Professor David Meltzer, who led the team, said: “Several studies have now shown that people with dementia are at high risk of developing severe COVID-19.. This study suggests that this high risk may not simply be due to the effects of dementia, age or frailty, or exposure to the virus in nursing homes.”.

Meltzer emphasizes: “The effect may be due in part to this genetic change, which puts them at risk for both COVID-19 and dementia.”.

medical-heal. en.