Rajkumar Ravi P
Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, IND.
Cureus. 2020 Aug 28;12(8):e10103. doi: 10.7759/cureus.10103.
Background Prevalence and mortality rates during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have varied widely across nations. This phenomenon may be partly due to regional variations in health-related behaviours, some of which may be influenced by health anxiety. A functional polymorphism of the catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, designated rs4680 or ValMet, has been associated with anxiety-related behaviours and the so-called "worrier" phenotype. Methods In this exploratory study, an analysis of the correlation between the frequencies of the Met allele of the COMT gene across 28 countries, obtained from the public domain Allele Frequency Database (ALFRED), and the COVID-19 prevalence and mortality rates in these countries, obtained from the Johns Hopkins Medical University web-based dashboard, was carried out while controlling for population size and median age in each country. Results Allele frequencies varied widely across populations. Met allele frequency was positively correlated with COVID-19 prevalence (ρ = 0.527, p = 0.004) and mortality rate (ρ = 0.542, p = 0.003) across nations. However, this correlation was no longer significant after controlling for confounders. Conclusions These preliminary results suggest that there may be a relationship between the COMT ValMet or rs4680 functional polymorphism and the impact of COVID-19 across nations, which could plausibly be mediated by maladaptive anxiety-related behaviours.
在2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间，各国的患病率和死亡率差异很大。这种现象可能部分归因于与健康相关行为的区域差异，其中一些行为可能受到健康焦虑的影响。儿茶酚-O-甲基转移酶（COMT）基因的一种功能性多态性，即rs4680或ValMet，与焦虑相关行为和所谓的“担忧者”表型有关。方法：在这项探索性研究中，对从公共领域等位基因频率数据库（ALFRED）获得的28个国家COMT基因Met等位基因频率，与从约翰·霍普金斯大学医学院基于网络的仪表盘获得的这些国家的COVID-19患病率和死亡率之间的相关性进行了分析，同时控制了每个国家的人口规模和年龄中位数。结果：等位基因频率在不同人群中差异很大。各国的Met等位基因频率与COVID-19患病率（ρ = 0.527，p = 0.004）和死亡率（ρ = 0.542，p = 0.003）呈正相关。然而，在控制混杂因素后，这种相关性不再显著。结论：这些初步结果表明，COMT ValMet或rs4680功能性多态性与各国COVID-19的影响之间可能存在关联，这可能合理地由适应不良的焦虑相关行为介导。
