Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun 19:15:1399504.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1399504. eCollection 2024.

Potential causal association of diabetes mellitus and blood glucose related indexes with the onset of epilepsy: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Mengting Zhu  1 , Shuying Ling  1
Affiliations

Potential causal association of diabetes mellitus and blood glucose related indexes with the onset of epilepsy: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Mengting Zhu et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Aim: Diabetes mellitus (DM) may promote the occurrence of epilepsy through mechanisms, such as inflammation, immune imbalance, and cerebrovascular injury, caused by metabolic abnormalities. However, evidence for the effects of DM and blood glucose (BG) on the risk of epilepsy is limited. Herein, this study used the Mendelian randomization (MR) method to investigate the potential causal associations of DM and BG-related indexes with epilepsy.

Methods: In this two-sample MR study, summary statistics data of the genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on exposures, including type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), T2DM, fasting glucose, and glycated hemoglobin (HbAlc), were extracted from the MRC-Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MRC-IEU). The GWAS data on study outcomes, including epilepsy, focal epilepsy, and generalized epilepsy, were obtained from the FinnGen consortium. MR-Egger regression was used to examine horizontal pleiotropism of instrumental variables (IVs), and Cochran's Q statistics was used to quantify the heterogeneity. MR analysis methods including inverse variance weighted (IVW) tests, weighted median, and MR-Egger were utilized to investigate the causal associations between DM and BG-related indexes with epilepsy. The evaluation indexes were odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Reverse causal association analyses were also performed. In addition, IVW-radial and leave-one-out tests were utilized for sensitivity analyses.

Results: IVW estimates suggested that T1DM has potential causal associations with epilepsy (OR = 1.057, 95% CI: 1.031-1.084) and generalized epilepsy (OR = 1.066, 95% CI: 1.018-1.116). No significant reverse causal associations of T1DM with epilepsy or generalized epilepsy were found (all P > 0.05). In addition, sensitivity analysis results identified no outlier, indicating that the associations of T1DM with epilepsy and generalized epilepsy were relatively robust.

Conclusion: Patients with T1DM had a potential risk of developing epilepsy, and prompt treatment of DM and dynamic monitoring may be beneficial to prevent epilepsy in this high-risk population. However, the causal associations of DM and BG with epilepsy may warrant further verification.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization study; blood pressure; causal association; diabetes mellitus; epilepsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

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
Flowchart of the study process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
IVW-radial sensitivity analysis of potential causal associations of T1DM with epilepsy, focal epilepsy, and generalized epilepsy.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis of potential causal associations of T1DM with epilepsy, focal epilepsy, and generalized epilepsy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Thijs RD, Surges R, O'Brien TJ, Sander JW. Epilepsy in adults. Lancet. (2019) 393:689–701. 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32596-0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pong AW, Xu KJ, Klein P. Recent advances in pharmacotherapy for epilepsy. Curr Opin Neurol. (2023) 36:77–85. 10.1097/WCO.0000000000001144 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Greenwood RS. Adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs. Epilepsia. (2000) 41(Suppl. 2):S42–52. 10.1111/j.1528-1157.2000.tb01523.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cheng Y, Wang H, Li M. The promise of Crispr/Cas9 technology in diabetes mellitus therapy: how gene editing is revolutionizing diabetes research and treatment. J Diabetes Comp. (2023) 37:108524. 10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2023.108524 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gao J, Yang T, Song B, Ma X, Ma Y, Lin X, et al. . Abnormal tryptophan catabolism in diabetes mellitus and its complications: opportunities and challenges. Biomed Pharmacother. (2023) 166:115395. 10.1016/j.biopha.2023.115395 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources