Mendelian randomization does not support serum calcium in prostate cancer risk.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Observational studies suggest that dietary and serum calcium are risk factors for prostate cancer. However, such studies suffer from residual confounding (due to unmeasured or imprecisely measured confounders), undermining causal inference. Mendelian randomization uses randomly assigned (hence unconfounded and pre-disease onset) germline genetic variation to proxy for phenotypes and strengthen causal inference in observational studies. We tested the hypothesis that serum calcium is associated with an increased risk of overall and advanced prostate cancer.

Methods

A genetic instrument was constructed using five single-nucleotide polymorphisms robustly associated with serum calcium in a genome-wide association study (n ≤ 61,079). This instrument was then used to test t

SUBMITTER: Yarmolinsky J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6245088 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature