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Unraveling the impact of neonatal jaundice on allergic diseases: a Mendelian randomization study

Haixia Kuang1, Zhihong Wu1, Kai Yan1

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang City, China.

Archives of Medical Science : AMS
|May 11, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Neonatal jaundice increases the risk of atopic dermatitis and allergic conjunctivitis in newborns. This finding suggests jaundice management may help prevent these allergic conditions.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal health
  • Immunology
  • Genetic epidemiology

Background:

  • Neonatal jaundice affects up to 60% of term infants.
  • Observational studies suggest a link between neonatal jaundice and increased risk of allergic diseases.
  • Causal relationship remains unclear due to confounding factors and reverse causality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the causal association between neonatal jaundice and allergic diseases using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.
  • To assess the potential causal link between neonatal jaundice and atopic dermatitis (AD), allergic conjunctivitis (AC), pediatric asthma, urticaria, and allergic rhinitis (AR).

Main Methods:

  • Two-sample MR analysis utilizing genetic variants as instrumental variables.
  • Data from large-scale Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) in European populations for neonatal jaundice and five allergic diseases.
  • Inverse variance weighted (IVW) method with sensitivity analyses (MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, weighted mode).

Main Results:

  • Significant causal association found between neonatal jaundice and increased risk of atopic dermatitis (AD) (OR = 1.0141, p = 0.006) and allergic conjunctivitis (AC) (OR = 1.0119, p = 0.026).
  • No significant association observed between neonatal jaundice and pediatric asthma, urticaria, or allergic rhinitis (AR).
  • Sensitivity analyses confirmed robustness, showing no evidence of pleiotropy or substantial influence from individual SNPs.

Conclusions:

  • This MR study provides evidence for a causal link between neonatal jaundice and higher risks of AD and AC.
  • Neonatal jaundice may be a modifiable risk factor for AD and AC.
  • Highlights the importance of managing neonatal jaundice and exploring preventive strategies for these allergic conditions.
Abstract

Keywords:
Mendelian randomizationallergic conjunctivitisallergic diseaseatopic dermatitisneonatal jaundice

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