Osteoarthritis & stroke: a bidirectional mendelian randomization study.
Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
|July 7, 2022
Summary
This study found that hip osteoarthritis is a risk factor for stroke, including ischemic stroke and small vessel ischemic stroke. However, stroke did not appear to cause osteoarthritis.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Epidemiology
- Neurology
Background:
- The relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and stroke is not well understood.
- Previous epidemiological studies have yielded inconclusive results regarding a causal link.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential causal relationship between osteoarthritis and stroke using a bidirectional Mendelian randomization approach.
- To determine if osteoarthritis is a risk factor for stroke or vice versa.
Main Methods:
- A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study utilizing summary-level data from large genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
- Data for osteoarthritis (any site, knee, hip) and stroke (overall, ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage) were obtained from UK Biobank, Arthritis Research UK, and MEGASTROKE consortium.
- Inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was the primary analysis, supplemented by MR-Egger, weighted median, and other sensitivity analyses.
Main Results:
- A significant association was found between higher risk of hip osteoarthritis and overall stroke, ischemic stroke, and small vessel ischemic stroke.
- Odds ratios indicated increased risk for stroke with hip OA presence.
- No evidence of a causal effect of stroke on osteoarthritis was detected in the reverse MR analyses.
Conclusions:
- Genetic evidence suggests that hip osteoarthritis may be a risk factor for overall stroke, ischemic stroke, and small vessel ischemic stroke.
- Further research is needed to explore the biological mechanisms underlying the causal link between site-specific osteoarthritis and stroke subtypes.
