Associations of educational attainment with Sepsis mediated by metabolism traits and smoking: a Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Objective: Sepsis constitutes a significant global healthcare burden. Studies suggest a correlation between educational attainment and the likelihood of developing sepsis. Our goal was to utilize Mendelian randomization (MR) in order to examine the causal connection between educational achievement (EA) and sepsis, while measuring the mediating impacts of adjustable variables.

Methods: We collected statistical data summarizing educational achievement (EA), mediators, and sepsis from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Employing a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, we calculated the causal impact of education on sepsis. Following this, we performed multivariable MR analyses to assess the mediation proportions of various mediators, including body mass index (BMI), smoking, omega-3 fatty acids, and apolipoprotein A-I(ApoA-I).

Results: Genetic prediction of 1-SD (4.2 years) increase in educational attainment (EA) was negatively correlated with sepsis risk (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.96). Among the four identified mediators, ranked proportionally, they including BMI (38.8%), smoking (36.5%), ApoA-I (6.3%) and omega-3 (3.7%). These findings remained robust across a variety of sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion: The findings of this study provided evidence for the potential preventive impact of EA on sepsis, which may be influenced by factors including and metabolic traits and smoking. Enhancing interventions targeting these factors may contribute to reducing the burden of sepsis.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; Sepsis; body mass index; education; mediation analyses.