Uma Proposta para Análise da Prevalência de Alelos HLA em Pacientes com COVID-19

Abstract

The SIVEP-Gripe and e-SUS information systems are used to record COVID-19 notifications. While SIVEP-Gripe is a surveillance system to record cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that also include serious cases of infections or deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2, the e-SUS system was created during the pandemic to register suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. In addition, the Brazilian Ministry of Health also has a database with the genetic characteristics of hematopoietic stem cell donors (REDOME), where the compatibility of these genes, in addition to playing a fundamental role in the rejection process, is directly linked to the immune responses to pathogens (viruses, bacteria and protozoa). Therefore, based on the records from these databases, the main objective of this work is, firstly, to generate a reliable database for an Case-Control Study (CCS) of the prevalence of HLA alleles in patients with COVID-19, and then to carry out the analysis of the frequency of HLA alleles. This paper presents the necessary steps to achieve this objective and, in particular, proposes, implements and evaluates a matching algorithm to create a homogeneous control base, based on the characteristics of the case base records. Finally, this work presents the prevalence of HLA alleles for patients with COVID-19 in the state of Minas Gerais. Results show that the proposed algorithm is able to generate comparable bases in number of cases and control proportional for five variables (i.e. location, age, ethnicity, testing period and test type) and that there are differences in the distribution of alleles groups according to the race/ethnicity field, where the B*51 allele has a greater chance of offer protection, while the A*36 allele increases the risk for COVID-19.