ACE Ins/Del genetic polymorphism and epidemiological findings in COVID-19
Joris Delanghe, Marijn M. Speeckaert, Marc De Buyzere
Abstract
Prevalence/mortality of COVID-19 infection may be attributed to many variables. We have constructed a database of a single continuous geographical zone to neutralize as much as possible the confounders. The majority of the variance in COVID-19 prevalence / mortality cannot be explained by the ACE D/I polymorphism alone. Other variables have contributed to an important variation in the statistics. A comparison with the European/North African/Middle East situation is impossible. It is clear that the approach based on genetic polymorphisms has limitations. If one selects the whole world and include countries with large differences in many variables, … every single polymorphism will lose its significance in a multivariate analysis evaluating the influence on infection risk and mortality.