Single transverse palmar crease as a potential risk factor for COVID-19

Aims While South Asians in the United Kingdom suffer from higher mortality from COVID-19, the exact reason for the ethnic disparity is unknown. One solution is to find a genetic correlate of South Asian ethnicity and see if the same correlate is associated with an increased likelihood of COVID-19 contraction among Whites. Methods The author analyzed a prospectively longitudinal, nationally representative sample from the British Cohort Study that began at birth in 1970 and has information on COVID-19 health status in May 2020. Results Palmer crease patterns measured at age 10 were significantly associated with the likelihood of COVID-19 contraction and the number of symptoms at age 50. Individuals with single transverse palmar crease (STPC) on the right hand had 22.9% chance of contracting COVID-19 compared with 9.5% for those with the normal crease. Conclusions Because having STPC on the right hand nearly triples the odds of contracting COVID-19 among Whites, and South Asians are 4 to 5 times as likely to have STPC as Whites do, the genes for/chromosomal abnormalities associated with STPC might be one of the contributors to the higher mortality from COVID-19 among South Asians in the United Kingdom.