Psychological Distress and Meniere's Disease: A Bidirectional Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Area of Science:

• Genetics
• Psychiatry
• Otolaryngology

Background:

• Meniere's disease (MD) is a complex inner ear disorder.
• The relationship between psychological factors like anxiety, depression, and neuroticism and MD is not fully understood.
• Mendelian randomization (MR) offers a robust method to investigate causal links.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the causal relationships between anxiety, depression, neuroticism, and Meniere's disease (MD).
• To determine if anxiety or depression contribute to MD, or if MD leads to these conditions.
• To investigate the specific neuroticism traits associated with MD.

Main Methods:

• Two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted.
• Utilized large-scale genome-wide association studies data from IEU, FinnGen, CTG, and UKB databases (over 357,957 participants).
• Sensitivity and reverse MR analyses were performed to ensure result robustness and exclude reverse causality.

Main Results:

• Anxiety and depression were found to be neither causes nor consequences of Meniere's disease.
• Elevated neuroticism, particularly traits like loneliness, mood instability, feeling fed-up, easily hurt feelings, and stress sensitivity, significantly increases the risk of developing MD.
• MD did not show a causal effect on neuroticism levels.

Conclusions:

• Neuroticism is a significant causal factor for Meniere's disease, anxiety, and depression.
• Anxiety and depression do not causally influence MD, and vice versa.
• Targeting and managing neuroticism may offer a novel strategy for preventing and treating Meniere's disease.