Systematic review and meta-analysis of Mendelian randomization in delirium studies: Key findings and methodological...

Delirium is a severe neurocognitive syndrome encountered in various medical and healthcare settings. Mendelian randomization (MR) offers a valuable approach for exploring causal relationships between delirium and various exposures using genetic variants.

We systematically searched seven databases from their inception to June 2025. Two researchers independently screened the articles, extracted the data, and conducted quality assessment. Meta-analysis was conducted when at least three MR studies using distinct genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets investigated the association between delirium and same exposure. The causal effect of other exposures was narratively synthesized. The methodological quality was assessed using a tool adapted from an existing appraisal framework.

A total of 29 MR studies were included. Four studies were pooled into meta-analysis, which showed that Alzheimer's disease (OR = 1.31, 95 %CI:1.23-1.40, I² = 0.0 %) was a risk factor for delirium. Other exposures included 29 additional risk factors, 22 protective factors, five potential therapeutic genes and delirium-related 459 serum proteins. We categorized these exposures into five domains: (1) lifestyle, (2) anthropometric indices, (3) biomarkers, (4) clinical variables, diseases, and treatments, and (5) environmental factor. Overall, study quality was acceptable, though concerns remained regarding inappropriate exposure and instrument variables selection, lack of validation, reporting transparency, and ethnic diversity.

Many studies have used MR to explore risk factors for delirium, but the range of factors is limited and methodological issues remain. Future studies should emphasize biologically relevant exposures, rigorous validation, transparent reporting, and diverse populations, and multiple testing correction for better reliability and generalizability.