Association between Blood Pressure and Digestive Tract Cancers in European and Asian Populations: A Two-Sample...

Area of Science:

• Genetics
• Epidemiology
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• Investigating the causal links between blood pressure and digestive tract cancers is crucial for public health.
• Mendelian randomization (MR) offers a powerful approach to infer causality from observational data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the causal relationship between blood pressure and digestive tract cancers.
• To compare these associations across European and Asian populations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies in European and Asian cohorts.
• Employed the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method as primary analysis.
• Conducted sensitivity analyses (MR-Egger, weighted median, MR-PRESSO) to ensure robustness and assess pleiotropy.

Main Results:

• No significant causal associations were found between blood pressure traits and digestive tract cancers in European populations.
• Genetically predicted higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) was significantly associated with increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in Asian populations (OR = 1.436).
• Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the observed association in Asians.

Conclusions:

• Elevated SBP is a potential causal risk factor for CRC specifically in Asian populations.
• The causal links between blood pressure and other digestive tract cancers require further investigation.
• Ancestry-specific mechanisms and underlying biological pathways need clarification through future studies.