Chronic pharyngitis and cervical spondylosis risk: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Cervical spondylosis (CS) is the most prevalent degenerative disease among the elderly. Chronic pharyngitis (CP) has been reported as a contributing factor to CP. However, the causal relationship between CP and CS has not yet been established. This study aims to investigate the potential link between CP and CS. A bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed using genome-wide association studies. Single nucleotide polymorphisms for each trait were identified as instrumental variables. Several sensitivity analyses, including inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method, weighted median method, MR-Egger regression, MR-PRESSO, and outlier test, were conducted to validate MR assumptions. The analysis showed that CP influences the risk of CS, as evidenced by the IVW method (odds ratio [OR]: 1.183, 95% CI: 1.091-1.282, P < .001), MR-Egger (OR: 1.65, 95% CI: 0.966-1.405, P = .124), and weighted median method (OR: 1.156, 95% CI: 1.031-1.297, P = .015). Conversely, the impact of CS on CP incidence was not strongly supported, as shown in the IVW (OR: 1.083, 95% CI: 1.019-1.152, P = .009), MR-Egger (OR: 0.910, 95% CI: 0.752-1.101, P = .337), and weighted median analyses (OR: 1.060, 95% CI: 0.972-1.157, P = .182). The findings suggest that CP may increase the risk of developing CS.