Causal effects of specific gut microbiota on bone mineral density: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent studies have reported that the gut microbiota is essential for preventing and delaying the progression of osteoporosis. Nonetheless, the causal relationship between the gut microbiota and the risk of osteoporosis has not been fully revealed.
METHODS: A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis based on a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to investigate the causal relationship between the gut microbiota and bone mineral density (BMD). Instrumental variables for 211 gut microbiota taxa were obtained from the available GWAS meta-analysis (n = 18,340) conducted by the MiBioGen consortium. The summary-level data for BMD were from the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis (GEFOS) Consortium, which involved a total of 32,735 individuals of European ancestry. The inverse variance-weighted (IVW) method was performed as a primary analysis to estimate the causal effect, and the robustness of the results was tested via sensitivity analyses by using multiple methods. Finally, a reverse MR analysis was applied to evaluate reverse causality.
RESULTS: According to the IVW method, we found that nine, six, and eight genetically predicted gut microbiota were associated with lumbar spine (LS) BMD, forearm (FA) BMD, and femoral neck (FN) BMD, respectively. Among them, the higher genetically predicted Genus Prevotella9 level was correlated with increased LS-BMD [β = 0.125, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.050-0.200, P = 0.001] and FA-BMD (β =…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 32,735 participants or records.
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