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Exploring the causality between ankylosing spondylitis and atrial fibrillation: A two-sample Mendelian randomization
Shuhong Chen1,2, Xiqing Luo1,2, Jiaoshi Zhao1,2
1Department of Rheumatology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Frontiers in Genetics
|December 5, 2022
Summary
This study found no causal link between ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and atrial fibrillation (AF) risk. Mendelian randomization analysis confirmed that AS does not increase the likelihood of developing AF.
Area of Science:
- Genetics and Epidemiology
- Cardiovascular Research
- Rheumatology
Background:
- Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease.
- Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia.
- The potential causal relationship between AS and AF remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential causal effect of ankylosing spondylitis on the risk of atrial fibrillation.
- To utilize two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis for robust causal inference.
Main Methods:
- Selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with AS as instrumental variables.
- Employed summary statistics from large-scale Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) for AS and AF.
- Applied inverse-variance weighted (IVW) as the primary MR method, supplemented by sensitivity analyses.
Main Results:
- Eighteen SNPs served as valid instrumental variables for AS.
- Consistent results across multiple MR methods indicated no statistically significant causal association between AS and AF.
- Sensitivity analyses, including MR-Egger and MR-PRESSO, confirmed the absence of pleiotropy and the stability of findings.
Conclusions:
- The Mendelian randomization analysis does not support a causal link between ankylosing spondylitis and an increased risk of atrial fibrillation.
- These findings suggest that other factors, not genetic predisposition to AS, may underlie the association observed in some epidemiological studies.
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