Interplay between the genetics of personality traits, severe psychiatric disorders and COVID-19 host genetics in the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Urs Heilbronner; Fabian Streit; Thomas Vogl; Fanny Senner; Sabrina K Schaupp; Daniela Reich-Erkelenz; Sergi Papiol; Mojtaba Oraki Kohshour; Farahnaz Klöhn-Saghatolislam; Janos L Kalman; Maria Heilbronner; Katrin Gade; Ashley L Comes; Monika Budde; Till F M Andlauer; Heike Anderson-Schmidt; Kristina Adorjan; Til Stürmer; Adrian Loerbroks; Manfred Amelang; Eric Poisel; Jerome Foo; Stefanie Heilmann-Heimbach; Andreas J Forstner; Franziska Degenhardt; Jörg Zimmermann; Jens Wiltfang; Martin von Hagen; Carsten Spitzer; Max Schmauss; Eva Reininghaus; Jens Reimer; Carsten Konrad; Georg Juckel; Fabian U Lang; Markus Jäger; Christian Figge; Andreas J Fallgatter; Detlef E Dietrich; Udo Dannlowski; Bernhardt T Baune; Volker Arolt; Ion-George Anghelescu; Markus M Nöthen; Stephanie H Witt; Ole A Andreassen; Chi-Hua Chen; Peter Falkai; Marcella Rietschel; Thomas G Schulze; Eva C Schulte

doi:10.1192/bjo.2021.1030

Interplay between the genetics of personality traits, severe psychiatric disorders and COVID-19 host genetics in the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection

BJPsych Open. 2021 Oct 7;7(6):e188. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2021.1030. eCollection 2021 Nov.

Authors

Urs Heilbronner¹, Fabian Streit², Thomas Vogl¹, Fanny Senner³, Sabrina K Schaupp¹, Daniela Reich-Erkelenz¹, Sergi Papiol³, Mojtaba Oraki Kohshour⁴, Farahnaz Klöhn-Saghatolislam³, Janos L Kalman³, Maria Heilbronner¹, Katrin Gade⁵, Ashley L Comes¹, Monika Budde¹, Till F M Andlauer⁶, Heike Anderson-Schmidt⁵, Kristina Adorjan³, Til Stürmer⁷, Adrian Loerbroks⁸, Manfred Amelang⁹, Eric Poisel², Jerome Foo², Stefanie Heilmann-Heimbach¹⁰, Andreas J Forstner¹¹, Franziska Degenhardt¹², Jörg Zimmermann¹³, Jens Wiltfang⁵, Martin von Hagen¹⁴, Carsten Spitzer¹⁵, Max Schmauss¹⁶, Eva Reininghaus¹⁷, Jens Reimer¹⁸, Carsten Konrad¹⁹, Georg Juckel²⁰, Fabian U Lang²¹, Markus Jäger²¹, Christian Figge²², Andreas J Fallgatter²³, Detlef E Dietrich²⁴, Udo Dannlowski²⁵, Bernhardt T Baune²⁶, Volker Arolt²⁵, Ion-George Anghelescu²⁷, Markus M Nöthen¹⁰, Stephanie H Witt², Ole A Andreassen²⁸, Chi-Hua Chen²⁹, Peter Falkai³⁰, Marcella Rietschel², Thomas G Schulze³¹, Eva C Schulte³²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
² Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
³ Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany; and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany; and Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany.
⁶ Department of Neurology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
⁸ Institute of Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁰ Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn School of Medicine & University Hospital Bonn, Germany.
¹¹ Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn School of Medicine & University Hospital Bonn, Germany; and Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Center Jülich, Germany.
¹² Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn School of Medicine & University Hospital Bonn, Germany; and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
¹³ Psychiatrieverbund Oldenburger Land gGmbH, Karl-Jaspers-Klinik, Germany.
¹⁴ Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinical Center Werra-Meißner, Germany.
¹⁵ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Rostock, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Augsburg University, Medical Faculty, Germany.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Research Unit for Bipolar Affective Disorder, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
¹⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Agaplesion Diakonieklinikum, Germany.
²⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Ruhr University Bochum, LWL University Hospital, Germany.
²¹ Department of Psychiatry II, Ulm University, Bezirkskrankenhaus Günzburg, Germany.
²² Karl-Jaspers Clinic, European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen, Germany.
²³ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health, University Tübingen, Germany.
²⁴ AMEOS Clinical Center Hildesheim, Germany; and Center for Systems Neuroscience Hannover, Germany.
²⁵ Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Germany.
²⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne, Australia; and The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
²⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Mental Health Institute Berlin, Germany.
²⁸ NORMENT Centre and KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental disorders, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; and Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Norway.
²⁹ Department of Radiology, University of California, USA.
³⁰ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
³¹ Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, USA; and Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
³² Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany; and Institute of Virology, Technical University Munich/Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany.

Abstract

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, with its impact on our way of life, is affecting our experiences and mental health. Notably, individuals with mental disorders have been reported to have a higher risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Personality traits could represent an important determinant of preventative health behaviour and, therefore, the risk of contracting the virus.

Aims: We examined overlapping genetic underpinnings between major psychiatric disorders, personality traits and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Method: Linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to explore the genetic correlations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) susceptibility with psychiatric disorders and personality traits based on data from the largest available respective genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In two cohorts (the PsyCourse (n = 1346) and the HeiDE (n = 3266) study), polygenic risk scores were used to analyse if a genetic association between, psychiatric disorders, personality traits and COVID-19 susceptibility exists in individual-level data.

Results: We observed no significant genetic correlations of COVID-19 susceptibility with psychiatric disorders. For personality traits, there was a significant genetic correlation for COVID-19 susceptibility with extraversion (P = 1.47 × 10^-5; genetic correlation 0.284). Yet, this was not reflected in individual-level data from the PsyCourse and HeiDE studies.

Conclusions: We identified no significant correlation between genetic risk factors for severe psychiatric disorders and genetic risk for COVID-19 susceptibility. Among the personality traits, extraversion showed evidence for a positive genetic association with COVID-19 susceptibility, in one but not in another setting. Overall, these findings highlight a complex contribution of genetic and non-genetic components in the interaction between COVID-19 susceptibility and personality traits or mental disorders.

Keywords: COVID-19; extraversion; genetics; personality traits; severe mental disorders.