Falsification of the instrumental variable conditions in Mendelian randomization studies in the UK Biobank.

ABSTRACT: Mendelian randomization (MR) is an increasingly popular approach to estimating causal effects. Although the assumptions underlying MR cannot be verified, they imply certain constraints, the instrumental inequalities, which can be used to falsify the MR conditions. However, the instrumental inequalities are rarely applied in MR. We aimed to explore whether the instrumental inequalities could detect violations of the MR conditions in case studies analyzing the effect of commonly studied exposures on coronary artery disease risk.Using 1077 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we applied the instrumental inequalities to MR models for the effects of vitamin D concentration, alcohol consumption, C-reactive protein (CRP), triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and low-densi

SUBMITTER: Guo K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10501946 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature