Applying Mendelian randomization to appraise causality in relationships between smoking, depression and inflammation.

ABSTRACT: Smoking, inflammation and depression commonly co-occur and may be mechanistically linked. However, key questions remain around the direction of association and the influence of residual confounding. We aimed to characterize the association between lifetime smoking and depression, as well as to assess the role that genetically-predicted C-reactive protein (CRP) level, (an archetypal generalized inflammatory marker) and/or IL-6 activity, as a potential explanation for this association. We performed inverse variance weighted Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses using recently published summary-level GWAS data for lifetime smoking index, CRP levels, and depression. A subset of inflammatory-related genetic variants from the lifetime smoking GWAS were also used to assess the potential inflammat

SUBMITTER: Galan D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9440889 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature