A Mendelian randomization study to examine the causal associations of circulating micronutrient levels with frailty risk

Kaidiriyan Kuribanjiang; Yiping Min; Shikang Yan; Simin Chen; Nuerbiyamu Aiheti; Abudunaibi Wupuer; Jie Wang; Xing Peng; Yihan Li; Huilong Li; Yiran Dong; Yuanlin Fan; Lei Yang; Jianping Zhao

doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1386646

A Mendelian randomization study to examine the causal associations of circulating micronutrient levels with frailty risk

Front Nutr. 2024 Apr 30:11:1386646. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1386646. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Kaidiriyan Kuribanjiang¹, Yiping Min², Shikang Yan¹, Simin Chen¹, Nuerbiyamu Aiheti¹, Abudunaibi Wupuer¹, Jie Wang², Xing Peng¹, Yihan Li², Huilong Li², Yiran Dong², Yuanlin Fan², Lei Yang^#^{1

3}, Jianping Zhao^#²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China.
² College of Mathematics and System Science, Xinjiang University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Causes and Prevention of High Morbidity in Central Asia Jointly Established by the Ministry and the Province Urumqi, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Observational studies have shown that micronutrients can affect the occurrence of frailty. However, it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship between the two. This study aimed to explore the causal relationship between circulating micronutrient levels and frailty risk using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) approach.

Methods: We gathered and screened instrumental variables (IVs) for six circulating micronutrients, including vitamin B₁₂, vitamin B₆, folate, vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin E, from published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and the IEU OpenGWAS open database. Summary statistics for frailty were obtained from a GWAS meta-analysis, including the UK Biobank and TwinGene (N = 175,226). We performed two independent TSMR analyses and a meta-analysis based on the two independent MR estimates to assess the causal relationship between circulating micronutrientn and frailty.

Results: Our study found, no causal relationship between genetically predicted vitamin D (β = -0.059, p = 0.35), vitamin B₆ (β = 0.006, p = 0.80), vitamin E (β = -0.011, p = 0.79), vitamin C (β = -0.044, p = 0.06), vitamin B₁₂ (β = -0.027, p = 0.37), and folate (β = 0.029, p = 0.17), with frailty.

Conclusion: This study showed that these six micronutrients did not reduce the risk of developing frailty. However, we think it is necessary further to investigate the relationship and mechanisms between micronutrients and frailty using methods such as randomized controlled trials.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; circulating micronutrients; frailty; genome-wide association studies; meta-analyses.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.fifigshare.13227443.v1

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the 14th Five-Year Plan Key Discipline of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Xiniiang Uvgur Autonomous Region, the 2022 Doctoral Research Initiation Fund of Xinjiang Medical University, and the State Key Laboratory Project of Xinjiang Medical University (SKL-HIDCA-2020-ER4).