Association between education level and chronic kidney disease:A Mendelian randomization study
Objective To explore the causal relationship between educational attainment and chronic kidney disease(including chronic glomerulonephritis,nephrotic syndrome,diabetic nephropathy,chronic renal failure,and other clinical diagnoses of chronic kidney disease),and provide targeted guidance support for different populations in the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease.Methods The study used four regression models,random-effects inverse-variance weighted(IVW),MR-Egger regression,weighted median method,and weighted model,to perform Mendelian randomization analysis of the causal relationship between educational attainment and chronic kidney disease.Results All four regression models showed no statistical significance for the three models of chronic kidney disease,chronic glomerulonephritis,and nephrotic syndrome with P>0.05.The diabetic nephropathy model was seen to be statistically significant as the results of the three methods except IVW method(OR=0.520,P<0.05)were not significant,while the scatter plot showed that the direction of the total effect value was the same for all methods.Chronic renal failure model IVW method(OR=0.487,P<0.001),weighted median method(OR=0.503,P<0.001)showed a significant effect and the scatter plot showed that the direction of the total effect value was the same in all methods,which was statistically significant.Conclusion Using two-sample Mendelian randomization method to exclude confounding factors and reverse causal associations,unbiased estimation results were obtained to get that the education level is not related to the overall chronic kidney disease incidence,but has reverse causality for diabetic nephropathy and chronic renal failure among them.