The Genetic Exploration of the Association Between Heavy Metal Exposure in Environmental Pollution and Multi-system...

Excessive exposure to heavy metals due to environmental pollution presents a significant challenge to public health. Prior studies have reported potential links between heavy metal exposure and multiple diseases, but the results have not been consistent and have lacked genetic evidence to prove causality. In this study, we employed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach based on updated large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) data to comprehensively explore the causal relationships between common heavy metal exposures and multiple diseases. We identified 22 causal associations between six heavy metals (lead, arsenic, chromium, copper, cadmium, and nickel) and multiple diseases. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of our findings. Our study provides insights into the susceptibility to multi-system diseases associated with excessive heavy metal exposure due to environmental pollution, highlighting the need for vigilance in populations exposed to high levels of these metals in polluted areas. This work offers potential evidence for the mechanisms underlying the relationship between heavy metals and disease onset.