Thyroid cancer and cardiovascular diseases: a Mendelian randomization study

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Epidemiology
• Oncology
• Genetic Epidemiology

Background:

• Observational studies suggest a link between thyroid cancer (TC) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but findings are inconsistent.
• The potential causal genetic relationship between TC and CVDs remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential causal genetic relationship between thyroid cancer and various cardiovascular diseases using Mendelian randomization.

Main Methods:

• Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis utilizing summary-level data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
• Investigated causality of TC on heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke (IS), and venous thromboembolism (VTE).
• Employed Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) as the primary method, alongside MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode. Sensitivity analyses included pleiotropy, heterogeneity, and leave-one-out assessments.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant causal association was detected between genetically predicted thyroid cancer and heart failure (OR=1.00134, p=0.017).
• No significant causal associations were found between thyroid cancer and coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, ischemic stroke, or venous thromboembolism.

Conclusions:

• The study confirms a causal relationship between thyroid cancer and heart failure.
• Highlights the importance of monitoring heart failure incidence in thyroid cancer patients and implementing comprehensive clinical interventions.