Association between Depression and Multiple Disease Outcomes: A Phenome-Wide Mendelian Randomization Study in the UK Biobank

Coffee consumption has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in observational studies, but whether the associations are causal is not known. We conducted a Mendelian randomization investigation to assess the potential causal role of coffee consumption in cardiovascular disease. Twelve independent genetic variants were used to proxy coffee consumption. Summary-level data for the relations between the 12 genetic variants and cardiovascular diseases were taken from the UK Biobank with up to 35,979 cases and the FinnGen consortium with up to 17,325 cases. Genetic predisposition to higher coffee consumption was not associated with any of the 15 studied cardiovascular outcomes in univariable MR analysis. The odds ratio per 50% increase in genetically predicted coffee consumption ranged from 0.97 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.63, 1.50) for intracerebral hemorrhage to 1.26 (95% CI, 1.00, 1.58) for deep vein thrombosis in the UK Biobank and from 0.86 (95% CI, 0.50, 1.49) for subarachnoid hemorrhage to 1.34 (95% CI, 0.81, 2.22) for intracerebral hemorrhage in FinnGen. The null findings remained in multivariable Mendelian randomization analyses adjusted for genetically predicted body mass index and smoking initiation, except for a suggestive positive association for intracerebral hemorrhage (odds ratio 1.91; 95% CI, 1.03, 3.54) in FinnGen. This Mendelian randomization study showed limited evidence that coffee consumption affects the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, suggesting that previous observational studies may have been confounded.

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Causal Association Between Atopic Dermatitis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A 2-Sample Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ◽

10.1093/ibd/izab329 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Christa Meisinger ◽

Dennis Freuer

Keyword(s):

Inflammatory Bowel Disease ◽

Atopic Dermatitis ◽

Bowel Disease ◽

Genome Wide Association Study ◽

Mendelian Randomization ◽

Causal Effect ◽

The Other ◽

Uk Biobank ◽

Inflammatory Bowel ◽

The Uk

Abstract Background Observational studies postulated an association between atopic dermatitis (AD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, it remains unclear whether this relationship is causal. Methods To determine whether AD is causally related to IBD and vice versa, a 2-sample Mendelian randomization study was conducted. Independent genetic instruments from the largest available genome-wide association study for AD (EAGLE eczema consortium without the 23andMe study including 10,788 cases and 30,047 controls) were used to investigate the association with IBD in the UK Biobank study (7045 cases, 456,327 controls) and a second European IBD sample (12,882 cases, 21,770 controls). Results Atopic dermatitis was strongly associated with higher risk of IBD as a whole (odds ratio [OR], 1.107; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.035; 1.183; P = .003) in the UK Biobank study. The positive association was not significant in the other IBD study (OR, 1.114; 95% CI, 0.956; 1.298), but in meta-analyses of results from the 2 studies, the strong association could be confirmed (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.04; 1.18). When evaluating the causal relationship in the other direction, IBD as a whole did not show an association with AD. Subtype analyses revealed that AD was suggestively associated with ulcerative colitis (UC; OR, 1.149; 95% CI, 1.018; 1.297) but not Crohn’s disease (CD). However, there was a suggestive association between CD and AD (OR, 1.034; 95% CI, 1.004; 1.064) but not UC and AD. Conclusions This study supports a causal effect between AD and IBD—but not between IBD and AD. There seems to be considerable differences between UC and CD regarding their specific associations with AD. These findings have implications for the management of IBD and AD in clinical practice.

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Abstract P147: Genome Wide Assessment of Shared Genetic Architecture Between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Cardiovascular Diseases Using the UK Biobank Data

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.141.suppl_1.p147 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 141 (Suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Yanjun Guo ◽

Wonil Chung ◽

Zhilei Shan ◽

Liming Liang

Keyword(s):

Cardiovascular Diseases ◽

Genetic Correlation ◽

Multiple Testing ◽

Mendelian Randomization ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Uk Biobank ◽

Increased Risk ◽

The Uk ◽

Cardiovascular Traits ◽

Shared Genetic

Background: Patients with RA have a 2-10 folds increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and CVD accounts for almost 50% of the excess mortality in patients with RA when compared with general population, but the mechanisms underlying such associations are largely unknown. Methods: We examined the genetic correlation, causality, and shared genetic variants between RA (Ncase=6,756, Ncontrol=452,476) and CVD (Ncase=44,246, Ncontrol=414,986) using LD Score regression (LDSC), generalized summary-data-based Mendelian Randomization (GSMR), and cross-trait meta-analysis in the UK Biobank Data. Results: In the present study, RA was significantly genetically correlated with MI, angina, CHD, and CVD after correcting for multiple testing (Rg ranges from 0.40 to 0.43, P<0.05/5). Interestingly, when stratified by frequent usage of aspirin and paracetamol, we observed increased genetic correlation between RA and CVD for participants without aspirin usage ( Rg increased to 0.54 [95%CI: 0.54, 0.78] for angina; P value=6.69х10 -6 ), and for participants with usage of paracetamol ( Rg increased to 0.75 [95%CI: 0.20, 1.29] for MI; P value=8.90х10 -3 ). Cross-trait meta-analysis identified 9 independent loci that were shared between RA and at least one of the genetically correlated CVD traits including PTPN22 at chr1p13.2 , BCL2L11 at chr2q13 , and CCR3 at chr3p21.31 ( P single trait <1х10 -3 and P meta <5х10 -8 ) highlighting potential shared etiology between them which include accelerating atherosclerosis and upregulating oxidative stress and vascular permeability. Finally, Mendelian randomization analyses observed inconsistent instrumental effects and were unable to conclude the causality and directionality between RA and CVD. Conclusion: Our results supported positive genetic correlation between RA and multiple cardiovascular traits, and frequent usage of aspirin and paracetamol may modify their associations, but instrumental analyses were unable to conclude the causality and directionality between them.

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