Serum Vitamin D Levels and Sjogren's Syndrome: Bi-directional Mendelian Randomization Analysis

Overview

Journal Arthritis Res Ther

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Rheumatology

Date 2023 May 15

PMID 37189174

Authors

Meng Zhao

Feiran Wei

Han Li

Zemin Wang

Shuai Wang

YangYang Liu

Gaoqiang Fei

You Ge

Pingmin Wei

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Based on the results of existing observational studies, it can be found that the association between serum vitamin D levels and the risk of Sjogren's syndrome (SS) in humans is still controversial. Based on this situation, this study aimed to assess the causal relationship between serum vitamin D levels and SS by using the Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.

Methods: In this study, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary statistics on serum vitamin D levels [sample size = 417,580 (UK Biobank)] and SS [sample size = 416,757 (cases = 2495, controls = 414,262) (FinnGen)] were used. The bi-directional MR analysis was then used to assess possible causal relationships. The major analysis method of MR was performed using inverse-variance weighted (IVW), supplemented by MR-Egger and the weighted median approaches. In addition, sensitivity analyses were used to ensure the stability of the results, including Cochran's Q test, MR-PRESSO, MR-Egger intercept test, and the leave-one-out test.

Results: The MR suggested that no significant causal effects of serum 25(OH)D levels on SS risks were observed [odds ratio (OR) = 0.9824; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.7130 to 1.3538; P = 0.9137]. Similarly, no evidence supported the causal effects of SS on serum vitamin D levels (β: 0.0076, 95% CI: - 0.0031 to 0.0183; P = 0.1640).

Conclusion: This study found no obvious evidence that serum vitamin D level is causally associated with SS risks or vice versa. We call for larger sample size studies to further unravel the potential causal relationship and the exact mechanism.

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