The relationship between cereal intake and 3 common inflammatory joint diseases: A 2-sample Mendelian randomization...

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Epidemiology
• Genetic Epidemiology
• Rheumatology

Background:

• The relationship between cereal consumption and inflammatory joint diseases is debated.
• Inflammatory joint diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis have significant health impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal effect of cereal grain intake on rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis using Mendelian randomization.
• To provide genetic evidence for the association between dietary patterns and inflammatory joint diseases.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis with publicly available genome-wide association study data.
• Employed inverse variance-weighted and Mendelian randomization-Egger regression methods to assess causality and pleiotropy.
• Performed sensitivity analyses, including leave-one-out, to ensure robustness of the findings.

Main Results:

• Increased cereal intake was genetically associated with a reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis (OR=0.554, P=0.031) and psoriatic arthritis (OR=0.336, P=0.033).
• No significant causal effect of cereal intake was observed for ankylosing spondylitis (OR=0.636, P=0.370).
• Sensitivity analyses confirmed no significant horizontal pleiotropy or heterogeneity, and no single SNP unduly influenced the results.

Conclusions:

• Genetic evidence suggests that higher cereal consumption may be causally linked to a lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.
• Cereal intake does not appear to have a causal effect on the risk of ankylosing spondylitis.
• These findings contribute to understanding the role of diet in the etiology of inflammatory joint diseases.