Ankylosing spondylitis and psychiatric disorders in European population: a Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

BackgroundEpidemiologic evidence has demonstrated a correlation between ankylosing spondylitis and psychiatric disorders. However, little is known about the common genetics and causality of this association. This study aimed to investigate the common genetics and causality between ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psychiatric disorders.MethodsA two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis was carried out to confirm causal relationships between ankylosing spondylitis and five mental health conditions including major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorder (AXD), schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BIP), and anorexia nervosa (AN). Genetic instrumental variables associated with exposures and outcomes were derived from the largest available summary statistics of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Bidirectional causal estimation of MR was primarily obtained using the inverse variance weighting (IVW) method. Other MR methods include MR-Egger regression, Weighted Median Estimator (WME), Weighted Mode, Simple Mode, and Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO). Sensitivity analyses are conducted to estimate the robustness of MR results.ResultsThe findings suggest that AS may be causally responsible for the risk of developing SCZ (OR = 1.18, 95% confidence interval = (1.06, 1.31), P = 2.58 × 10-3) and AN (OR = 1.32, 95% confidence interval = (1.07, 1.64), P = 9.43 × 10-3). In addition, MDD, AXD, SCZ, AN, and BIP were not inversely causally related to AS (all p > 0.05).ConclusionOur study provides fresh insights into the relationship between AS and psychiatric disorders (SCZ and AN). Furthermore, it may provide new clues for risk management and preventive interventions for mental disorders in patients with AS.

Sex Bias in Diagnostic Delay: Are Axial Spondyloarthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis Still Phantom Diseases in Women? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In the F population, some symptoms of SpA, like morning stiffness and sleep disorders associated with diffuse enthesis pain, are frequently not interpreted in the same way as the M population. These symptoms might be mistakenly associated with fibromyalgia or incorrectly referred to surgeons or internal specialists [59] or even psychiatry [75,76].…”

A mendelian randomization study investigates the causal relationship between immune cell phenotypes and cerebral aneurysm

“…We then applied the weighted median method, which can also estimate causality, but only if it comes from at least 50% of valid IVs (Bowden et al, 2016). Additionally, the accuracy of simple model is lower than that of weighted model, both of which use causal estimates from a single SNP to form clusters, but weighted model assigns weight to each SNP, but they may be superior to MR-Egger in detecting causal effects (Hartwig et al, 2017;Zuo and Li, 2023). To evaluate the correlation between specific SNPs and the obtained outcomes, a Leave-one-out (LOO) sensitivity analysis was utilized in the study .…”