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Causal associations between severe mental illness and sepsis: a Mendelian randomization study
Ruhao Yang1, Hongyu Xiang2, Ting Zheng3
1Department of Emergency, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
|March 27, 2024
Summary
Severe mental illness (SMI) may increase sepsis risk. Mendelian randomization found a suggestive link between major depression and higher sepsis risk, but not schizophrenia. No causal link was found for sepsis mortality.
Area of Science:
- Genetics and Epidemiology
- Infectious Disease Research
Background:
- Observational studies suggest severe mental illness (SMI) is a risk factor for sepsis.
- The causal relationship between SMI and sepsis remains unconfirmed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal association between SMI and sepsis risk.
- To examine the causal link between SMI and sepsis mortality using Mendelian randomization.
Main Methods:
- Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for major depression and schizophrenia (exposures) and sepsis/sepsis mortality (outcomes).
- Selection of genetic variants (SNPs) associated with exposures as instrumental variables.
- Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method, with heterogeneity and pleiotropy tests (Cochrane's Q, MR-Egger).
Main Results:
- Genetically predicted major depression showed a suggestive association with increased sepsis risk (OR=1.13, P=0.023).
- No significant association was found between schizophrenia and sepsis risk (OR=1.00, P=0.811).
- No causal evidence linked genetically predicted SMI to sepsis mortality; no heterogeneity or pleiotropy detected.
Conclusions:
- Genetically predicted major depression is suggestively associated with elevated sepsis risk in European ancestry populations.
- Clinicians should consider sepsis risk in patients with depression to potentially reduce incidence.
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