17 2024 2024-12-09 10.3389/fmed.2024.1409714 Background: COVID-19 disease has infected more than 772 million people, leading to 7 million deaths. Although the severe course of COVID-19 can be prevented using appropriate treatments, effective interventions require a thorough research of the genetic factors involved in its pathogenesis. Methods: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 7,124 individuals (comprising 6,400 controls who had mild to moderate COVID-19 and 724 cases with severe COVID-19). The inclusion criteria were acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute respiratory failure (ARF) requiring respiratory support, or CT scans indicative of severe COVID-19 infection without any competing diseases. We also developed a polygenic risk score (PRS) model to identify individuals at high risk. Results: We identified two genome-wide significant loci (P-value https://repo.bashgmu.ru/publication/4730 https://repo.bashgmu.ru/files/4906