scholarly journals Physical activity and sedentary behavior; mechanistic insights and role in disease prevention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel den Hoed ◽  
Zhe Wang ◽  
Andrew Emmerich ◽  
Nicolas Pillon ◽  
Timothy Moore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Salt Bridge ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Dynamics Simulations

Abstract Even though physical activity and sedentary behavior are moderately heritable, little is known about the mechanisms that influence these traits. Here, we combine data for up to 674,980 individuals from 51 studies in a trans-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for self-reported moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity during leisure time (MVPA); leisure screen time (LST); sedentary commuting; and sedentary behavior at work. We identify 99 loci that associate with at least one trait. Loci associated with LST are enriched for genes whose expression in skeletal muscle is altered by resistance training. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the Glu to Ala substitution encoded by rs2229456 (ACTN3) – associated with more MVPA – disrupts salt bridge interactions and makes the alpha actinin 3 filaments more flexible. In isolated type IIA muscle fibers, the Ala-encoding allele is associated with lower maximal force and power during an isometric contraction, suggesting protection from exercise-induced muscle damage. Finally, Mendelian Randomization analyses show that the causal effect of LST on BMI is 2-3 times larger than the effect of body mass index (BMI) on LST, and that beneficial effects of LST and MVPA on several risk factors and diseases are mediated or confounded by BMI. Taken together, our results provide mechanistic insights into the regulation of MVPA and into the role of LST and MVPA in disease prevention. These insights may facilitate the development of tailored physical activity interventions.

scholarly journals Association of Physical Activity with Body Composition: A Mendelian Randomization Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferris Alaa Ramadan ◽  
Katherine Ellingson ◽  
Yann Klimentidis
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Body Composition ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Dietary Interventions ◽  
The Uk

Background. Studies suggest that body composition can be improved through physical activity (PA) independently of dietary interventions. A separate line of evidence suggests that PA may reduce high-risk visceral adipose tissue (VAT), without clinically meaningful weight change. Genome-wide association studies have previously identified genetic markers associated with PA behaviors and may provide an opportunity to evaluate hypothesized causal relationships with body composition. Methods. We performed a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to test the incremental benefits of various PA exposures on body composition outcomes as assessed by anthropometric indices, lean body mass (LBM) (kg), body fat (%), and VAT (kg). Genetic instruments were identified for both self-reported and accelerometer-measured PA, including sedentary behavior. Outcomes included anthropometric and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measures of adiposity, extracted from the UK Biobank and the largest publicly available consortia. Multivariable MR (MVMR) included educational attainment as a covariate to address potential confounding. Sensitivity analyses were evaluated for weak instrument bias and pleiotropic effects.Results. We did not identify associations between genetically-predicted sedentary behavior (self-reported or accelerometer) and body composition outcomes in MVMR analyses. All analyses for self-reported moderate PA were null for body composition outcomes, including BMI, LBM and VAT. Genetically-predicted PA at higher intensities was protective against VAT in MR and MVMR analyses of both accelerometer-measured vigorous PA (MVMR β = -0.15, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): -0.24, -0.07, p<0.001) and self-reported participation in strenuous sports or other exercises (MVMR β = -0.27, 95%CI: -0.52, -0.01, p=0.034), and was robust across several sensitivity analyses. Conclusions. We did not identify evidence of a causal relationship between genetically-predicted PA and body composition, with the exception of a putatively protective effect of higher-intensity PA on VAT. Protective effects of PA against VAT may support prior evidence of biological pathways through which PA decreases risk of downstream cardiometabolic diseases.

scholarly journals The effect of smoking on multiple sclerosis: a mendelian randomization study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth E Mitchell ◽  
Kirsty Bates ◽  
Robyn E Wootton ◽  
Adil Harroud ◽  
J. Brent Richards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Smoking Initiation ◽  
Smoking Behaviour ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Smoking Duration

AbstractThe causes of multiple sclerosis (MS) remain unknown. Smoking has been associated with MS in observational studies and is often thought of as an environmental risk factor. We used two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) to examined whether this association is causal using genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) as associated with smoking. We assessed both smoking initiation and lifetime smoking behaviour (which captures smoking duration, heaviness and cessation). There was very limited evidence for a meaningful effect of smoking on MS susceptibility was measured using summary statistics from the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) meta-analysis, including 14,802 cases and 26,703 controls. There was no clear evidence for an effect of smoking on the risk of developing MS (smoking initiation: odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92-1.61; lifetime smoking: OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.87-1.40). These findings suggest that smoking does not have a detrimental consequence on MS susceptibility. Further work is needed to determine the causal effect of smoking on MS progression.

scholarly journals Random glucose GWAS in 493,036 individuals provides insights into diabetes pathophysiology, complications and treatment stratification

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Lagou ◽  
Longda Jiang ◽  
Anna Ulrich ◽  
Liudmila Zudina ◽  
Karla Sofia Gutiérrez González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Glucose ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Mendelian Randomisation ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Functional Studies ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Coding Variants ◽  
Glycaemic Traits

Homeostatic control of blood glucose requires different physiological responses in the fasting and post-prandial states. We reasoned that glucose measurements under non-standardised conditions (random glucose, RG) may capture diverse glucoregulatory processes more effectively than previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of fasting glycaemia or after standardised glucose loads. Through GWAS meta-analysis of RG in 493,036 individuals without diabetes of diverse ethnicities we identified 128 associated loci represented by 162 distinct signals, including 14 with sex-dimorphic effects, 9 discovered through trans-ethnic analysis, and 70 novel signals for glycaemic traits. Novel RG loci were particularly enriched in expression in the ileum and colon, indicating a prominent role for the gastrointestinal tract in the control of blood glucose. Functional studies and molecular dynamics simulations of coding variants of GLP1R, a well-established type 2 diabetes treatment target, provided a genetic framework for optimal selection of GLP-1R agonist therapy. We also provided new evidence from Mendelian randomisation that lung function is modulated by blood glucose and that pulmonary dysfunction is a diabetes complication. Thus, our approach based on RG GWAS provided wide-ranging insights into the biology of glucose regulation, diabetes complications and the potential for treatment stratification.

Genetically proxied morning chronotype was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Sun ◽  
Ding Ye ◽  
Mengting Jiang ◽  
Yu Qian ◽  
Yingying Mao
Keyword(s):  
Prostate Cancer ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Prostate Cancer Risk ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Primary Analysis ◽  
Weighted Median ◽  
Reduced Risk

Abstract Study Objectives Observational epidemiological studies have suggested that chronotype may play a role in the pathogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. However, whether there is a causal association remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine the potential causal relationship between chronotype and prostate cancer risk using a Mendelian randomization (MR) design. Methods A total of 268 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with chronotype were selected from a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of 697,828 individuals. The genetic association data for prostate cancer was derived from the Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer-Associated Alterations in the Genome (PRACTICAL) Consortium (79,148 cases and 61,106 controls). Inverse-variance-weighted (IVW) method was used as the primary analysis to calculate the causal effect estimates. The weighted-median method, MR-Egger regression, MR-PRESSO test, and multivariable MR analyses were applied as sensitivity analysis. Results Genetically predicted morningness (scaled to a sleep midpoint of 1 hour earlier) had a reduced risk of prostate cancer, with an odds ratio of 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.54-0.94 by IVW), compared with the eveningness. Similar causal effect estimates were also observed by using the weighted median and MR-PRESSO analyses. In addition, results from the multivariable MR analysis supported the findings from the univariable MR analyses. No indication of horizontal pleiotropy was observed in the MR-Egger analysis (P for intercept =0.234). Conclusion Our findings provide evidence of a causal protective effect of morning chronotype on the risk of prostate cancer.

scholarly journals Depression and Osteoporosis: A Mendelian Randomization Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin He ◽  
Qiong Lyu ◽  
Lifeng Yin ◽  
Muzi Zhang ◽  
Zhengxue Quan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Observational Studies ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Mineral Density

AbstractObservational studies suggest a link between depression and osteoporosis, but these may be subject to confounding and reverse causality. In this two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis, we included the large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for depression among 807,553 individuals (246,363 cases and 561,190 controls) of European descent, the large meta-analysis to identify genetic variants associated with femoral neck bone mineral density (FN-BMD), forearm BMD (FA-BMD) and lumbar spine BMD (LS-BMD) among 53,236 individuals of European ancestry, and the GWAS summary data of heel BMD (HE-BMD) and fracture among 426,824 individuals of European ancestry. The results revealed that genetic predisposition towards depression showed no causal effect on FA-BMD (beta-estimate: 0.091, 95% confidence interval [CI] − 0.088 to 0.269, SE:0.091, P value = 0.320), FN-BMD (beta-estimate: 0.066, 95% CI − 0.016 to 0.148, SE:0.042, P value = 0.113), LS-BMD (beta-estimate: 0.074, 95% CI − 0.029 to 0.177, SE:0.052, P value = 0.159), HE-BMD (beta-estimate: 0.009, 95% CI − 0.043 to 0.061, SE:0.027, P value = 0.727), or fracture (beta-estimate: 0.008, 95% CI − 0.071 to 0.087, SE:0.041, P value = 0.844). These results were also confirmed by multiple sensitivity analyses. Contrary to the findings of observational studies, our results do not reveal a causal role of depression in osteoporosis or fracture.

scholarly journals Little evidence for an effect of smoking on multiple sclerosis risk: A Mendelian Randomization study

PLoS Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. e3000973
Author(s):  
Ruth E. Mitchell ◽  
Kirsty Bates ◽  
Robyn E. Wootton ◽  
Adil Harroud ◽  
J. Brent Richards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Smoking Initiation ◽  
Smoking Behaviour ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Smoking Duration

The causes of multiple sclerosis (MS) remain unknown. Smoking has been associated with MS in observational studies and is often thought of as an environmental risk factor. We used two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to examine whether this association is causal using genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies (GWASs) as associated with smoking. We assessed both smoking initiation and lifetime smoking behaviour (which captures smoking duration, heaviness, and cessation). There was very limited evidence for a meaningful effect of smoking on MS susceptibility as measured using summary statistics from the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) meta-analysis, including 14,802 cases and 26,703 controls. There was no clear evidence for an effect of smoking on the risk of developing MS (smoking initiation: odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92–1.61; lifetime smoking: OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.87–1.40). These findings suggest that smoking does not have a detrimental consequence on MS susceptibility. Further work is needed to determine the causal effect of smoking on MS progression.

scholarly journals Physical Activity and Risks of Cardiovascular Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengui Zhuo ◽  
Jianqiang Zhao ◽  
Miao Chen ◽  
Yunlong Lu
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Myocardial Infarction ◽  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Cardiovascular Diseases ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Activity Levels

Background: Although some observational studies have shown that physical activity may have a positive relationship with cardiovascular diseases, the causal effect remains uncertain. We conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) study to identify the potential causal effect between physical activity and cardiovascular diseases.Methods: Summary statistics of genome-wide association studies on four physical activity phenotypes and cardiovascular diseases were utilized. MR analysis was performed using inverse-variance weighted (IVW) and multivariable MR. Multiple sensitivity analysis was further conducted to identify the robustness of our results.Results: Genetically predicted self-reported vigorous physical activity (VPA) was significantly associated with lower risk of myocardial infarction (IVW OR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.08–0.68, p-value: 0.007). Additionally, the causal effect of VPA with myocardial infarction was robust after adjusting for several cardiovascular risk factors through using the multivariable MR. There were no apparent causal associations between physical activity with other cardiovascular diseases. Results were consistent with the sensitivity analysis.Conclusion: The present study supports a protective role of self-reported vigorous physical activity in the initiation of myocardial infarction and highlights the importance of activity levels of physical activity. Further studies are required to elucidate the potential biological pathways of physical activity with cardiovascular diseases.

scholarly journals Association Between Covid-19 and Heart Failure: Evidence From a Two-sample Mendelian Randomization Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huachen Wang ◽  
Zheng Guo ◽  
Yulu Zheng ◽  
Bing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Reverse Causality ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Weighted Median

Abstract Background: Current research observing inconsistent associations of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with heart failure (HF) are prone to bias based on reverse causality and residual confounding factors. Our aim was to apply a two-sample Mendelian randomization method to investigate whether COVID-19 has a causal effect on HF. Methods: Twenty-nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were proposed as candidate instrumental variables (IVs). A total of 3,523 patients with COVID-19 and 36,634 control participants were included in the genome-wide meta-analysis. We analyzed the largest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) meta-analysis of heart failure in individuals of European ancestry consisting of 47,309 patients with HF and 930,014 controls. The inverse variance weighted (IVW), the Mendelian randomization-Egger (MR-Egger) regression, the simple mode (SM), weighted median, and weighted mode were utilized for the MR analysis to test the stability and a causal effect. Results: The IVW, MR-Egger regression, SM, weighted median and weighted mode demonstrated there was no association between the genetically predicted COVID-19 infection and HF risk (OR, 1.004; 95%CI, 0.994-1.014; P=0.467; OR, 1.008; 95%CI, 0.996-1.019; P=0.218; OR, 0.968; 95%CI, 0.924-1.015; P=0.186; OR, 1.001; 95%CI, 0.988-1.014; P=0.881; OR, 1.001; 95%CI, 0.989-1.014; P=0.836; respectively). Conclusion: This two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis provided no evidence to sustain the causality of COVID-19 on HF.

scholarly journals Physical activity and general cognitive functioning: A Mendelian Randomization study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Cheval ◽  
Liza Darrous ◽  
Karmel W. Choi ◽  
Yann C. Klimentidis ◽  
David A. Raichlen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Moderate Physical Activity ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Brain Functions

AbstractPhysical activity and cognitive functioning are strongly intertwined. However, the causal relationships underlying this association are still unclear. Physical activity can enhance brain functions, but healthy cognition may also promote engagement in physical activity. Here, we used Latent Heritable Confounder Mendelian Randomization (LHC-MR) to assess the bidirectional relations between physical activity and general cognitive functioning. Association data were drawn from two large-scale genome-wide association studies (UK Biobank and COGENT) on accelerometer-based physical activity (N = 91,084) and cognitive functioning (N = 257,841). We observed a significant MR association, suggesting that increased duration of physical activity improves cognitive functioning (b = 0.61, CI95% = [0.36,0.86], P =1.16e-06). In contrast, we found no evidence for a causal effect of cognitive functioning on physical activity. Follow-up analyses revealed that the favorable association from physical activity to cognitive functioning was driven by moderate physical activity (b = 1.33, CI95% = [0.72,1.94], P = 2.01e-05) with no contribution from vigorous physical activity. These findings provide new evidence supporting a beneficial causal effect of moderate physical activity on cognitive functioning. Therefore, interventions that promote moderate rather than vigorous physical activity may be best suited to improve or recover cognitive skills.Significance StatementWhether the relationship between physical activity and cognitive functioning is a one or twoway association is still unclear. Here, based on a genetically informed method designed to investigate causal relations in observational data, we found a one-way association: Higher levels of physical activity improved cognitive functioning. Results further revealed that only moderate, but not vigorous, physical activity demonstrated a positive effect on cognitive functioning. These findings show that moderate physical activity plays a fundamental role in improving general cognitive functioning, suggesting that policies for healthy ageing and interventions targeting cognitive skills in healthy and clinical populations should primarily rely on this physical activity intensity.

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