The impact of endometriosis on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases: A Mendelian randomization study

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Endocrinology
• Cardiovascular Epidemiology
• Genetic Epidemiology

Background:

• Endometriosis is associated with systemic conditions, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), atrial fibrillation (AF), heart failure (HF), hypertension, and stroke.
• The causal link between endometriosis and these cardiovascular outcomes is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential causal relationship between endometriosis and major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.
• To assess genetic associations between endometriosis and outcomes such as CVD, AF, HF, hypertension, stroke, and ischemic stroke.

Main Methods:

• Employed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses utilizing large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) data.
• Primary analysis used the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, with sensitivity analyses including weighted median, weighted mode, and MR Egger.

Main Results:

• No significant causal associations were found between endometriosis and CVD, HF, stroke, ischemic stroke, or hypertension.
• An initial potential association with AF was not robust and failed sensitivity analyses, suggesting it was not a reliable finding.

Conclusions:

• This MR study does not support a causal role for endometriosis in major cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases.
• The observed unstable association with AF highlights the need for further investigation in larger, diverse populations to rule out pleiotropy or power limitations.