Estimating the causal influence of body mass index on risk of Parkinson disease: A Mendelian randomisation study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Both positive and negative associations between higher body mass index (BMI) and Parkinson disease (PD) have been reported in observational studies, but it has been difficult to establish causality because of the possibility of residual confounding or reverse causation. To our knowledge, Mendelian randomisation (MR)-the use of genetic instrumental variables (IVs) to explore causal effects-has not previously been used to test the effect of BMI on PD.

Methods and findings

Two-sample MR was undertaken using genome-wide association (GWA) study data. The associations between the genetic instruments and BMI were obtained from the GIANT consortium and consisted of the per-allele difference in mean BMI for 77 independent variants that reached genome-wide significance. The

SUBMITTER: Noyce AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5469450 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature