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Exploring the casual association between coffee intake and bladder cancer risk using Mendelian Randomization
Yuqing Deng1,2, Tingting Wu1, Gang Luo1
1Department of Urology, The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Frontiers in Genetics
|October 17, 2022
Summary
This study investigated the causal link between coffee consumption and bladder cancer risk using Mendelian randomization. The findings do not support a causal association, suggesting observational links may be due to other factors.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Genetics
- Cancer Research
Background:
- Observational studies suggest coffee consumption may lower bladder cancer risk.
- Confounding factors and reverse causality limit observational study findings.
- Mendelian randomization (MR) is employed to assess causal relationships.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if coffee consumption causally influences bladder cancer risk.
- To leverage genetic variants as instrumental variables for a robust analysis.
Main Methods:
- Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.
- Utilized 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with coffee consumption as instrumental variables (IVs).
- Analyzed summary-level data from UK Biobank and FinnGen consortium for bladder cancer.
Main Results:
- No significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy detected.
- No causal association found between coffee consumption and bladder cancer risk in UK Biobank (OR=1.022, 95% CI: 0.679-1.537).
- Consistent results observed in FinnGen consortium (OR=0.890, 95% CI: 0.467-1.697).
Conclusions:
- This Mendelian randomization study does not support a causal link between habitual coffee consumption and bladder cancer.
- Observational associations may be influenced by unmeasured confounding or reverse causality.
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