Effect of basal metabolic rate on rheumatoid arthritis: a Mendelian randomization study

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) as one of the most basic and significant indicators of metabolism has been associated with human health. Previous studies showed that the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is linked to BMR; however, the causal relationship between BMR and RA is unknown. Thus, we aimed to explore the causal relationship between BMR and RA as well as RA-related factors.

Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed on collected genome-wide association studies information. The effect of horizontal pleiotropy was detected by MR-PRESSO and MR-Radial. Five MR analysis methods were applied, including inverse variance weighted, MR-Egger, weighted median, weighted mode, and simple mode. Four sensitivity analysis methods were used for the validation of the significant MR analysis results. A two-component mixture of regressions method was additionally used to validate single nucleotide polymorphisms and to verify results.

Genetically, there is a causal effect of BMR on overall RA (odds ratio = 1.25, 95% confidence interval: 1.07-1.47, PIVW = .006), seropositive RA (odds ratio = 1.20, 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.44, PIVW = .035), and seronegative RA (odds ratio = 1.36, 95% confidence interval: 1.04-1.78, PIVW = .023). Sensitivity analyses validated the robustness of the above associations. No evidence supported the effect of RA on BMR. Moreover, BMR showed no causal relationship with rheumatoid factor, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, and matrix metallopeptidase 3.

MR results implied the causal effect of BMR on RA and raised our attention to the importance of BMR in RA's pathology.