Association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes: A bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study

Xuetong Ni; Chao Tong; Aheyeerke Halengbieke; Tengrui Cao; Jianmin Tang; Lixin Tao; Deqiang Zheng; Yumei Han; Qiang Li; Xinghua Yang

doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110993

Association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes: A bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study

Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2023 Dec:206:110993. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110993. Epub 2023 Nov 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of Information, Beijing Physical Examination Center, Beijing, China.
³ Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: xinghuayang@ccmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37931882
DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110993

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the mutually causal relationship between NAFLD and type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Based on the data obtained from GWAS, this study employed bidirectional two-sample MR analysis to investigate the causal relationship between NAFLD and type 2 diabetes, and also examined the causal relationship between liver fat accumulation and type 2 diabetes as well as the relationship between NAFLD and FPG, IR.

Results: In MR analysis of NAFLD and type 2 diabetes, when NAFLD as an exposure and type 2 diabetes as a result, the OR (95 % CI) was 1.10890 (1.00135-1.22801); in the reverse analysis, the OR value was not statistically significant. In MR analysis of NAFLD, FPG and IR, there was no statistical significance in both directions. In MR analysis of liver fat accumulation and type 2 diabetes, when liver fat as an exposure and type 2 diabetes as a result, the OR (95 % CI) was 1.17516 (1.02054-1.35321); in the reverse analysis, the OR value (95 % CI) was 1.06283 (1.02879-1.09799).

Conclusion: There is a unidirectional causal relationship between NAFLD and type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, a bidirectional causal relationship exists between liver fat accumulation and type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: Causal relationship; Mendelian randomization; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Type 2 diabetes.

MeSH terms

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* / epidemiology
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* / genetics
Genome-Wide Association Study
Humans
Mendelian Randomization Analysis
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / complications
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / epidemiology
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / genetics