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. 2023 Feb 28:14:1100874.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1100874. eCollection 2023.

Diabetes and intervertebral disc degeneration: A Mendelian randomization study

Peihao Jin  1 , Yonggang Xing  1 , Bin Xiao  1 , Yi Wei  1 , Kai Yan  1 , Jingwei Zhao  1 , Wei Tian  1
Affiliations

Diabetes and intervertebral disc degeneration: A Mendelian randomization study

Peihao Jin et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Introduction: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is an important contributor of low back pain, which represents one of the most disabling symptoms within the adult population. Recently, increasing evidence suggests the potential association between Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and IVDD. However, the causal relationship between these two common diseases remains unclear.

Methods: We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to assess the causal association between T2DM and IVDD. Sensitivity analysis was performed to test for heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. Multivariable MR was also conducted to adjust for the effect of BMI on IVDD.

Results: A total of 128 independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were significantly associated with T2DM were selected as instrumental variables in univariable MR analysis. Our results showed that patients with T2DM had a higher risk of developing IVDD (OR, 1.069; 95% CI, 1.026-1.115; p = 0.002). The relationship remained stable in sensitive analysis including multivariable MR, which implicated the direct causal effect of T2DM on IVDD (OR, 1.080; 95% CI, 1.041-1.121; p < 0.001) after adjusting for BMI.

Conclusions: MR analysis indicated a causal effect of T2DM on IVDD, and the effect persisted even when we accounted for the impact of BMI.

Keywords: GWAS data; Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis; body mass index; intervertebral disc degeneration; type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The study design. IVDD, intervertebral disc degeneration; T2DM, Type 2 diabetes mellitus; GWAS, genome-wide association study; MR, Mendelian randomization; BMI, body mass index; IVW, inverse-variance weighted.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The causal effect of T2DM on IVDD. IVDD, intervertebral disc degeneration; T2DM, Type 2 diabetes mellitus; IVW, inverse-variance weighted. OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plot of the relationship between T2DM and IVDD using inverse-variance weighted, simple median, MR-Egger, and weighted median. SNP, single-nucleotide polymorphism; ebi-a-GCST006867, the GWAS ID of BMI; finn-b-M13-INTERVERTEB, the GWAS ID of IVDD.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Multivariable MR results. IVDD, intervertebral disc degeneration; T2DM, Type 2 diabetes mellitus; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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