“Virus Exposure and Neurodegenerative Disease Risk across National Biobanks”, 2023-01-19 ():
Identified 45 pairs of viral exposures associated with increased risk of NDDs
- replicated 22 of the viral exposures/NDD pairings
Replicated the previously reported Epstein-Barr and multiple sclerosis association
Follow-up shows statistically-significantly elevated risk of NDD years after viral exposure
With recent findings connecting the Epstein-Barr virus to an increased risk of multiple sclerosis and growing concerns regarding the neurological impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we examined potential links between viral exposures and neurodegenerative disease risk.
Using time series data from FinnGen for discovery and cross-sectional data from the UK Biobank for replication, we identified:
45 viral exposures statistically-significantly associated with increased risk of neurodegenerative disease and replicated 22 of these associations. The largest effect association was between viral encephalitis exposure and Alzheimer’s disease. Influenza with pneumonia was statistically-significantly associated with 5 of the 6 neurodegenerative diseases studied. We also replicated the Epstein-Barr/multiple sclerosis association. Some of these exposures were associated with an increased risk of neurodegeneration up to 15 years after infection.
As vaccines are currently available for some associated viruses, vaccination may be a way to reduce some risk of neurodegenerative disease.
[Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, generalized dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, viral exposure, influenza, encephalitis, varicella-zoster]