| Institution: | 1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China;2. Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China;3. School of Nursing, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, China;4. Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA |
| Abstract: | Background and aimsEtiologic associations between some modifiable factors (metabolic risk factors and lifestyle behaviors) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) remain unclear. To identify targets for CVD prevention, we evaluated the causal associations of these factors with coronary artery disease (CAD) and ischemic stroke using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) method.Methods and resultsPreviously published genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for blood pressure (BP), glucose, lipids, overweight, smoking, alcohol intake, sedentariness, and education were used to identify instruments for 15 modifiable factors. We extracted effects of the genetic variants used as instruments for the exposures on coronary artery disease (CAD) and ischemic stroke from large GWASs (N = 60 801 cases/123 504 controls for CAD and N = 40 585 cases/406 111 controls for ischemic stroke). Genetically predicted hypertension (CAD: OR, 5.19 95% CI, 4.21–6.41]; ischemic stroke: OR, 4.92 4.12–5.86]), systolic BP (CAD: OR, 1.03 1.03–1.04]; ischemic stroke: OR, 1.03 1.03–1.03]), diastolic BP (CAD: OR, 1.05 1.05–1.06]; ischemic stroke: OR, 1.05 1.04–1.05]), type 2 diabetes (CAD: OR, 1.11 1.08–1.15]; ischemic stroke: OR, 1.07 1.04-1.10]), smoking initiation (CAD: OR, 1.26 1.18–1.35]; ischemic stroke: OR, 1.24 1.16–1.33]), educational attainment (CAD: OR, 0.62 0.58–0.66]; ischemic stroke: OR, 0.68 0.63–0.72]), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (CAD: OR, 1.55 1.41–1.71]), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (CAD: OR, 0.82 0.74–0.91]), triglycerides (CAD: OR, 1.29 1.14–1.45]), body mass index (CAD: OR, 1.25 1.19–1.32]), and alcohol dependence (OR, 1.04 1.03–1.06]) were causally related to CVD.ConclusionThis systematic MR study identified 11 modifiable factors as causal risk factors for CVD, indicating that these factors are important targets for preventing CVD. |
