Substance abuse and the risk of severe COVID-19: Mendelian randomization confirms the causal role of opioids but hints a negative causal effect for cannabinoids.

ABSTRACT: Since the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic, our understanding of the underlying disease mechanism and factors associated with the disease severity has dramatically increased. A recent study investigated the relationship between substance use disorders (SUD) and the risk of severe COVID-19 in the United States and concluded that the risk of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 is directly correlated with substance abuse, including opioid use disorder (OUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD). While we found this analysis fascinating, we believe this observation may be biased due to comorbidities (such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease) confounding the direct effect of SUD on severe COVID-19 illness. To answer this question, we sought to investigate the causal relat

SUBMITTER: Jabalameli MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9792508 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature