AUTHOR=Sun Xingang , Chen Lu , Wang Zhen , Lu Yunlong , Chen Miao , He Yuxian , Xu Hongfei , Zheng Liangrong 

TITLE=Association of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Neuroticism, and Subjective Well-Being With Cardiovascular Diseases: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2021.676030

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2021.676030

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Previous observational studies have reported an association between psychiatric traits and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). In this two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study, we aimed to investigate the causality between psychiatric traits and CVDs.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), neuroticism, and subjective well-being at genome-wide significance (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 1 × 10<sup>−8</sup>) were identified from genome-wide association studies. Summary-level data of the outcomes, including coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), atrial fibrillation (AF), and heart failure (HF), were obtained from several largest datasets. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used as our main analyses to conduct this MR study. Sensitivity analyses included the weighted median, the MR-robust adjusted profile score (MR-RAPS), and the MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) method. Repeated MR analyses using a more relaxed threshold (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 1 × 10<sup>−6</sup>) for instruments selection and multivariable MR analyses were also applied to evaluate the robustness of results.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The MR analyses showed that genetic predisposition to ASD was associated with a higher risk of AF [odds ratio (OR), 1.109; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.023–1.201; <italic>P</italic> = 0.011] and HF (OR, 1.138; 95% CI, 1.036–1.251; <italic>P</italic> = 0.007). Neuroticism was casually associated with an increased risk of AF (OR, 1.201; 95% CI, 1.037–1.392; <italic>P</italic> = 0.015), whereas subjective well-being had a protective effect on HF (OR, 0.732; 95% CI, 0.574–0.933; <italic>P</italic> = 0.012). No other causal association between psychiatric traits and CVDs was observed. Consistent results were obtained in sensitivity analyses.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> This study provided evidence of causal associations of ASD with a higher risk of AF and HF. Besides, neuroticism was casually associated with an increased risk of AF, and subjective well-being was associated with a decreased risk of HF.</p>