Transient ischemic attack and coronary artery disease: a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

Xiaoyi Qi; Shijia Wang; Liangxian Qiu; Xiongbiao Chen; Qianwen Huang; Kunfu Ouyang; Yanjun Chen

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1192664

Transient ischemic attack and coronary artery disease: a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Aug 21:10:1192664. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1192664. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaoyi Qi^{1

2}, Shijia Wang¹, Liangxian Qiu¹, Xiongbiao Chen¹, Qianwen Huang¹, Kunfu Ouyang³, Yanjun Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Cardiology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
² Medical College, Shantou University, Shantou, China.
³ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Background: Although observational studies have shown that patients who experienced transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) had a higher risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), the causal relationship is ambiguous.

Methods: We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to analyze the causal relationship between TIA and CAD using data from the FinnGen genome-wide association study. Analysis was performed using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method. The robustness of the results was evaluated using MR-Egger regression, the weighted median, MR pleiotropy residual sum, and outlier (MR-PRESSO) and multivariable MR analysis.

Results: Results from IVW random-effect model showed that TIA was associated with an increased risk of coronary artery atherosclerosis (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.28, P = 0.002), ischemic heart disease (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.04-1.27, P = 0.007), and myocardial infarction (OR1.15, 95% CI 1.02-1.29, P = 0.025). In addition, heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy were observed in the ischemic heart disease results, while the sensitivity analysis revealed no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy in other outcomes.

Conclusions: This MR study demonstrated a potential causal relationship between TIA and CAD. Further research should be conducted to investigate the mechanism underlying the association.

Keywords: GWAS—genome-wide association study; Mendelian randomization; causal relationship; coronary artery disease; transient ischemic attack.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Foundation (No. JCYJ20180228162359914) and Guangdong-Shenzhen Joint Fund Youth Project (No. 2021A1515111110).