The association between COVID-19 and infertility: Mendelian randomization analysis

Abstract

Since December 2019, COVID-19 has triggered a global pandemic. The association of COVID-19 with the long-term reproductive situation of women and males is not clear. Thus, our aim was to assess the causal association between COVID-19 and infertility using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis based on the OpenGWAS database. Two-sample MR analysis was conducted using one genome-wide association study (GWAS) on COVID-19 and infertility in individuals of European ancestry. The summary data of genetic variation come from the GWAS in European populations. We applied several MR methods, including MR Egger, weighted median, inverse variance weighted, simple mode, weighted mode, to test causal relationships. After observing the statistical analysis results of MR, we conducted sensitivity analysis to test robustness. After gene prediction, it was found that there was no clear causal relationship between COVID-19 and male infertility in MR analysis [OR 0.4702 (95% CI, 0.1569-1.4093), P = .178]. Moreover, COVID-19 was not associated with female infertility [OR 0.9981 (95% CI, 0.763-1.544), P = .646]. Sensitivity analysis showed that the MR results were robust [level pleiotropy, male: (MR-Egger, intercept = 0.1967434; se = 0.1186876; P = .2392406); female: (MR-Egger, intercept = -0.05902506; se = 0.05362049; P = .3211367)]. To further validate the impact of COVID-19 on infertility, we added a covariate (sex hormone binding global levels, abortion) to the MR analysis, which is a multivariate MR analysis. According to univariate and multivariate MR analyses, the evidence does not support that COVID-19 is a causal risk factor for infertility in European population. This information can provide information for doctors in reproductive centers when managing infertility patients.