Causal relationships between depression, anxiety, and myopia: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

To investigate the causal relationship between depression, anxiety, and myopia.

The multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) design using summary statistics from independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) was employed. The anxiety and depression, were used as exposures, and myopia was used as the outcome. Genetic variants associated with depression were derived using GWAS summary statistics from the FinnGen consortium database. Genetic variants associated with anxiety were derived from the Psychiatric Genomics consortium. The inverse-variance-weighted method was the main applied analytic tool and was complemented with comprehensive sensitivity analyses.

A total of 21, 10 SNPs were selected as instrumental variables for depression and anxiety, respectively. Based on the IVW analysis, both depression (OR = 1.010, 95% CI = 1.002-1.018, P = 0.016) and anxiety (OR = 1.083, 95%CI = 1.022-1.149, P = 0.008) increased the risk of myopia. After adjusting in the multivariable MR, the IVW and Egger methods indicated that depression (OR = 1.004, 95%CI = 1.000-1.008, P = 0.030) or anxiety (OR = 1.004, 95%CI = 1.001-1.008, P = 0.026) was still associated with elevated risks of myopia.

The current study identified a causal relationship between anxiety, depression, and an increased risk of myopia. These observations suggest that when developing strategies to control myopia, it is also important to focus on the mental health of children. Further detailed research is needed to fully understand this issue.