Association between Alcohol Consumption and Serum Cortisol Levels: a Mendelian Randomization Study

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology
• Genetics
• Public Health

Background:

• Conflicting results exist on alcohol consumption and cortisol levels.
• Causality between alcohol intake and cortisol has not been established.
• Cortisol is a key stress hormone influenced by various factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal relationship between alcohol consumption and serum cortisol levels.
• To utilize genetic variants as instrumental variables for alcohol consumption.
• To differentiate the effects in men and women.

Main Methods:

• Employed Mendelian randomization (MR) on 8,922 participants from the Dong-gu Study.
• Utilized the ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism as a genetic instrument for alcohol consumption.
• Applied two-stage least squares regression for association analysis.

Main Results:

• Observational analysis showed a positive association between alcohol consumption and serum cortisol in both sexes.
• MR analysis revealed a positive relationship between genetically predicted alcohol consumption and cortisol in men (0.18 μg/dL increase per drink/day).
• No significant causal relationship was found between alcohol consumption and cortisol levels in women via MR analysis.

Conclusions:

• Genetically predicted alcohol consumption, influenced by the ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism, is causally linked to elevated cortisol levels in men.
• Findings suggest a potential biological pathway linking alcohol intake to stress hormone regulation in males.
• The study highlights sex-specific differences in the alcohol-cortisol relationship.