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Causality between six psychiatric disorders and digestive tract cancers risk: a two-sample Mendelian randomization
Qi Fu1, Linghui Li2, Niyang Zhuoma3
1Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital (The Clinical Medical School), Qinghai University, Xining, 810000, Qinghai, China.
Scientific Reports
|July 19, 2024
Summary
This study found no genetic link between psychiatric disorders and digestive tract cancers like esophageal, gastric, or colorectal cancer. However, panic disorder may offer a protective effect against colorectal cancer risk.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Psychiatry
- Oncology
Background:
- Previous research suggests potential associations between psychiatric disorders and digestive tract cancers.
- The precise causal relationship between these conditions remains largely undetermined.
- This study investigates the genetic underpinnings of these proposed links.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the potential causal genetic link between six psychiatric disorders and three digestive tract cancers using Mendelian randomization.
- To determine if psychiatric disorders are risk factors for esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, or colorectal cancer.
- To identify any protective effects of psychiatric disorders on digestive tract cancer risk.
Main Methods:
- Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was employed.
- Data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and panic disorder (PD) were analyzed.
- Data for esophageal cancer (EC), gastric cancer (GC), and colorectal cancer (CRC) were also analyzed, utilizing inverse variance weighted (IVW), weighted median (WM), and MR-Egger methods.
Main Results:
- No significant causal association was found between psychiatric disorders and the risk of developing esophageal cancer or gastric cancer.
- Psychiatric disorders were not identified as risk factors for colorectal cancer.
- Panic disorder (PD) showed a statistically significant protective association with colorectal cancer risk (OR=0.79, P=0.01).
Conclusions:
- The Mendelian randomization analysis indicates a lack of a causal relationship between psychiatric disorders and the risk of digestive tract cancers.
- Panic disorder may have a protective effect against the development of colorectal cancer.
- Further research is warranted to understand the mechanisms behind the observed protective association between panic disorder and colorectal cancer.
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