Causal Effects Between Anxiety-Depressive and Subjective Tinnitus in Europe: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization...

Area of Science:

• Genetics
• Psychiatry
• Otolaryngology

Background:

• Tinnitus is a common auditory condition often co-occurring with psychological distress.
• The causal relationship between anxiety-depression and tinnitus remains unclear.
• Genetic factors may play a role in the comorbidity of these conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential causal relationship between anxiety-depression and tinnitus using a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.
• To assess the unidirectional influence of genetic predisposition for anxiety-depression on tinnitus risk.
• To explore genetic correlations between psychological distress and tinnitus.

Main Methods:

• Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis utilizing large-scale genetic data from UK Biobank, IEU, EBI, and FinnGen.
• Selection of instrumental variables based on genome-wide significance, independence, and exclusion of confounding factors.
• Primary analysis using Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) method, with sensitivity analyses including Weighted Median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO to ensure robustness and assess pleiotropy.

Main Results:

• MR analyses indicated a significant genetic correlation between anxiety-depression and an increased risk of developing tinnitus.
• Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of findings and suggested an absence of significant pleiotropy or outliers.
• No evidence of reverse causality was detected, supporting a unidirectional genetic influence from anxiety-depression to tinnitus.

Conclusions:

• A genetic predisposition to anxiety and depression significantly elevates the risk of tinnitus.
• These findings underscore the importance of integrating psychological assessments and interventions into tinnitus management.
• Further research in diverse populations is warranted to elucidate underlying mechanisms and confirm these associations.