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Inflammatory bowel disease and risk of coronary heart disease

A Mendelian randomization study

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Summary

Background

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), has been reported to be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD); however, the causal link between IBD and CHD is unclear. We performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the association between genetically predicted IBD and CHD risk.

Methods

Exposure summary data were obtained from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with cohorts of IBD (12,882 cases and 21,770 controls), UC (6968 cases and 20,464 controls), and CD (5956 cases and 14,927 controls) of European descent to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables. Outcome summary data were obtained from a meta-analysis of 22 GWAS including 22,233 cases and 64,762 controls of European descent. To estimate MR, four methods were used, including inverse variance-weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, simple mode, and weighted median methods. Sensitivity analysis was also performed. The Bonferroni method was used to correct the bias of multiple testing.

Results

Three sets of SNPs (69 SNPs of IBD, 40 SNPs of UC, and 58 SNPs of CD) were used to estimate the causal effect between genetically predicted IBD and CHD. Using the IVW method, we found that no causal relationship between genetically predicted IBD and CHD after Bonferroni correction, and there was no causal relationship between UC/CD and the development of CHD. No evidence of significant heterogeneity and pleiotropy was found.

Conclusion

The results of this study suggested that genetically predicted IBD may have no causal effect on CHD risk in a population with European ancestry.

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Acknowledgements

Data on coronary artery disease have been contributed by International Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium investigators and have been downloaded from https://www.ibdgenetics.org/downloads.html. Data on coronary artery disease have been contributed by CARDIoGRAMplusC4D investigators and have been downloaded from www.CARDIOGRAMPLUSC4D.ORG. The authors wish to thank all the investigators for sharing these data.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82170349) and Cultivation Project of Young Talents supported by Cancer Hospital of Shandong First Medical University (CH-SFMU-QM20210006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Shuangyong Road # 6, 530021, Nanning, Guangxi Province, China

    Xue Qiu & Lang Li

  2. Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, 250117, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

    Chenyang Hou

  3. The First Clinical Medical School, Guangxi Medical University, 530021, Nanning, Guangxi Province, China

    Zihong Yang

  4. Department of Cardiology, Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital, 404000, Chongqing, China

    Qiang Wang

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  1. Xue Qiu
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Contributions

Xue Qiu and Lang Li designed this study. Xue Qiu and Chenyang Hou analyzed data and wrote the paper; Zihong Yang and Qiang Wang participated in data analysis, figure preparation and manuscript writing. Lang Li revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lang Li.

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X. Qiu, C. Hou, Z. Yang, Q. Wang and L. Li declare that they have no competing interests.

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Qiu, X., Hou, C., Yang, Z. et al. Inflammatory bowel disease and risk of coronary heart disease. Wien Klin Wochenschr 134, 779–787 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-022-02095-y

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