The Relationship Between Autoimmune Thyroid Disease, Thyroid Nodules and Sleep Traits: a Mendelian Randomization Study

Overview

Journal Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2024 Apr 2

PMID 38562570

Authors

Suijian Wang

Kui Wang

Xiaohong Chen

Shaoda Lin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have suggested a potential association between Autoimmune thyroid disease Thyroid nodules and Sleep Traits, but the evidence is limited and controversial, and the exact causal relationship remains uncertain.

Objective: Therefore, we employed a MR analysis to investigate the causal relationship between Autoimmune thyroid disease, Thyroid nodules and Sleep Traits.

Methods: To explore the interplay between Autoimmune thyroid disease Thyroid nodules and Sleep Traits, we employed MR studies utilizing summary statistics derived from GWAS in individuals of European ancestry. To ensure robustness, multiple techniques were employed to assess the stability of the causal effect, including random-effect inverse variance weighted, weighted median, MR-Egger regression, and MR-PRESSO. Heterogeneity was evaluated using Cochran's Q value. Additionally, we investigated the presence of horizontal pleiotropy through MR-Egger regression and MR-PRESSO.

Results: The IVW method indicates a significant causal relationship between "Getting up" and autoimmune hypothyroidism, as revealed by the IVW method (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.78, P-value = 1.99e-4). Additionally, there might be a potential correlation between sleep duration and autoimmune hypothyroidism (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.79, P-value = 0.024). Moreover, the observed potential positive link between daytime nap and thyroid nodules (OR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.07 to 2.58, P-value = 0.023) is subject to caution, as subsequent MR PRESSO testing reveals the presence of horizontal pleiotropy, raising concerns about the reliability of the findings. The findings suggested a potential inverse association between Autoimmune hypothyroidism and Getting up (OR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.98 to 1.00, P-value = 6.66e-3).As the results of MR-Egger method(OR: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.98 to 1.02, P-value = 0.742) exhibited an opposing trend to that observed with the IVW method and the results did not reach significance after P-value correction.

Conclusion: The results of our study reveal a notable cause-and-effect relationship between Getting up and Autoimmune hypothyroidism, indicating its potential role as a protective factor against this condition. However, no causal connection was observed between sleep traits and Graves' disease or Thyroid nodules.

Citing Articles

Causal relationship between immune cells and risk of heart failure: evidence from a Mendelian randomization study.

Cao W, Yang Z, Mo L, Liu Z, Wang J, Zhang Z Front Cardiovasc Med. 2025; 11:1473905.

PMID: 39917605 PMC: 11798955. DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1473905.

Causal relationship between immune cells and risk of myocardial infarction: evidence from a Mendelian randomization study.

Cao W, Wang K, Wang J, Chen Y, Gong H, Xiao L Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024; 11:1416112.

PMID: 39257847 PMC: 11384581. DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1416112.

Causality between sleep traits and the risk of frailty: a Mendelian randomization study.

Deng Z, Hu Y, Duan L, Buyang Z, Huang Q, Fu X Front Public Health. 2024; 12:1381482.

PMID: 38784581 PMC: 11112029. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1381482.

Causal association of sleep traits with the risk of thyroid cancer: A mendelian randomization study.

Zong L, Liu G, He H, Huang D BMC Cancer. 2024; 24(1):605.

PMID: 38760772 PMC: 11102272. DOI: 10.1186/s12885-024-12376-6.

References

Dashti H, Daghlas I, Lane J, Huang Y, Udler M, Wang H . Genetic determinants of daytime napping and effects on cardiometabolic health. Nat Commun. 2021; 12(1):900. PMC: 7876146. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20585-3. View

Smith T, Hegedus L . Graves' Disease. N Engl J Med. 2016; 375(16):1552-1565. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1510030. View

Kalsbeek A, Fliers E, Franke A, Wortel J, Buijs R . Functional connections between the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the thyroid gland as revealed by lesioning and viral tracing techniques in the rat. Endocrinology. 2000; 141(10):3832-41. DOI: 10.1210/endo.141.10.7709. View

Lane J, Jones S, Dashti H, Wood A, Aragam K, van Hees V . Biological and clinical insights from genetics of insomnia symptoms. Nat Genet. 2019; 51(3):387-393. PMC: 6415688. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-019-0361-7. View

Javaheri S, Redline S . Insomnia and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. Chest. 2017; 152(2):435-444. PMC: 5577359. DOI: 10.1016/j.chest.2017.01.026. View

Ballesio A, Zagaria A, Baccini F, Micheli F, Di Nardo G, Lombardo C . A meta-analysis on sleep quality in inflammatory bowel disease. Sleep Med Rev. 2021; 60:101518. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101518. View

Kim W, Lee J, Ha J, Jo K, Lim D, Lee J . Association between Sleep Duration and Subclinical Thyroid Dysfunction Based on Nationally Representative Data. J Clin Med. 2019; 8(11). PMC: 6912782. DOI: 10.3390/jcm8112010. View

Yan Y, Wang X, Wu H, Chen C, Li X, Yang R . Short night-time sleep duration is associated with thyroid nodules: A community-based survey from Guangzhou, China. Postgrad Med. 2022; 135(3):290-295. DOI: 10.1080/00325481.2022.2139485. View

Wang H, Lane J, Jones S, Dashti H, Ollila H, Wood A . Genome-wide association analysis of self-reported daytime sleepiness identifies 42 loci that suggest biological subtypes. Nat Commun. 2019; 10(1):3503. PMC: 6692391. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11456-7. View

10.

PASSOUANT P, PASSOUANT-FONTAINE T, CADILHAC J . [The influence of hyperthyroidism on sleep. Clinical and experimental study]. Rev Neurol (Paris). 1966; 115(3):353-66. View

11.

Jones S, Lane J, Wood A, van Hees V, Tyrrell J, Beaumont R . Genome-wide association analyses of chronotype in 697,828 individuals provides insights into circadian rhythms. Nat Commun. 2019; 10(1):343. PMC: 6351539. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-08259-7. View

12.

Sudlow C, Gallacher J, Allen N, Beral V, Burton P, Danesh J . UK biobank: an open access resource for identifying the causes of a wide range of complex diseases of middle and old age. PLoS Med. 2015; 12(3):e1001779. PMC: 4380465. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001779. View

13.

Chellappa S, Aeschbach D . Sleep and anxiety: From mechanisms to interventions. Sleep Med Rev. 2022; 61:101583. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101583. View

14.

Matenchuk B, Mandhane P, Kozyrskyj A . Sleep, circadian rhythm, and gut microbiota. Sleep Med Rev. 2020; 53:101340. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101340. View

15.

Lou X, Wang H, Tu Y, Tan W, Jiang C, Sun J . Alterations of sleep quality and circadian rhythm genes expression in elderly thyroid nodule patients and risks associated with thyroid malignancy. Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):13682. PMC: 8249375. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93106-x. View

16.

Song L, Lei J, Jiang K, Lei Y, Tang Y, Zhu J . The Association Between Subclinical Hypothyroidism and Sleep Quality: A Population-Based Study. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2020; 12:369-374. PMC: 6927586. DOI: 10.2147/RMHP.S234552. View

17.

Jones S, Tyrrell J, Wood A, Beaumont R, Ruth K, Tuke M . Genome-Wide Association Analyses in 128,266 Individuals Identifies New Morningness and Sleep Duration Loci. PLoS Genet. 2016; 12(8):e1006125. PMC: 4975467. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006125. View

18.

Eschler D, Hasham A, Tomer Y . Cutting edge: the etiology of autoimmune thyroid diseases. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2011; 41(2):190-7. PMC: 3129418. DOI: 10.1007/s12016-010-8245-8. View

19.

Bowden J, Del Greco M F, Minelli C, Davey Smith G, Sheehan N, Thompson J . A framework for the investigation of pleiotropy in two-sample summary data Mendelian randomization. Stat Med. 2017; 36(11):1783-1802. PMC: 5434863. DOI: 10.1002/sim.7221. View

20.

Potter G, Skene D, Arendt J, Cade J, Grant P, Hardie L . Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Disruption: Causes, Metabolic Consequences, and Countermeasures. Endocr Rev. 2016; 37(6):584-608. PMC: 5142605. DOI: 10.1210/er.2016-1083. View