The morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 are correlated with the Ile105Val glutathione S-transferase P1 polymorphism

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is an important issue in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Considering that glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) is involved in cellular detoxification, it may play an important role in susceptibility to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and/or its outcome. In the present study, the association between the Ile105Val GSTP1 polymorphism (rs1695) and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as its outcome was investigated. Data on the prevalence (per 10(6) people), case-fatality (per 100 infected cases), and mortality (per 10(6) people) of COVID-19 and various potential confounders (the life expectancy at birth, density of medical doctors, density of nursing and midwifery personnel, and the gross national income per capita) were used. The latest data available for 45 countries were used for the study. RESULTS: In multivariate linear regression analyses, the Val105 allelic frequency showed positive association with the log-prevalence (partial r = 0.308, p = 0.042) and log-mortality of COVID-19 (partial r = 0.316, p = 0.037). The log-fatality did not show association with the allelic frequency. In the next step, only countries with the gross national income per capita more than $15,000 were included in the analysis. In the selected countries, the frequency of Val105 was positively associated with the log-prevalence (partial r = 0.456, p = 0.009) and log-mortality of COVID-19 (partial r = 0.544, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The present findings indicate that countries with higher Val105 allelic frequency of the rs1695 polymorphism showed higher prevalence and mortality of COVID-19.