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Association between educational attainment and thyroid cancer: evidence from a univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization study

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Abstract

Background

Thyroid cancer and educational attainment have been related in observational studies. It is unclear if these correlations indicate causative relationships.

Methods

Using large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets, we conducted an univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) study to assess a potential connection between educational attainment and thyroid cancer. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) analysis method is used as our primary outcome. Additionally, we carry out several sensitivity analyses to evaluate the pleiotropy and robustness of the causal estimates.

Results

Univariate MR study shows 4.2 years of additional education is associated with a 41.4% reduction in thyroid cancer risk (OR = 0.586; 95% CI: 0.378–0.909; P = 0.017). Further multivariable MR analysis revealed that body mass index (BMI) acted as a partial mediating factor in the protective impact of higher educational attainment against thyroid cancer.

Conclusion

This MR study provided genetic evidence that longer education attainment is related to a lower risk of thyroid cancer. Strategies of expanding education may reduce the burden of thyroid cancer in the world.

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Data availability

The GWAS summary data utilized in this study are all publicly available.

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Funding

This study is supported by the nursing research project of Zhongshan Hospital affiliated from Xiamen University (2023zsyyhlky-002).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Siyue Fan, Hongzhan Jiang

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing College, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, China

    Siyue Fan, Hongzhan Jiang, Jiali Shen, Huihui Lin, Doudou Yu, Liping Yang, Nengtong Zheng & Lijuan Chen

  2. Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen, China

    Lijuan Chen

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  1. Siyue Fan
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Contributions

Conceptualization, S.Y. and H.Z.; Data curation, S.Y. and H.Z.; Formal analysis, S.Y. and H.Z.; Visualization, J.L., L.P., H.H. and D.D.; Writing—original draft, S.Y. and H.Z.; Writing—review and editing, H.Z., J.L., H.H., S.Y., L.P., D.D. and N.T.; Supervision, L.J. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lijuan Chen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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We employed summary-level data that is publicly available. Additional patient consent or ethical approval is not required.

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Fan, S., Jiang, H., Shen, J. et al. Association between educational attainment and thyroid cancer: evidence from a univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization study. Endocrine (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-024-03796-2

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