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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1388047

The causal effects of inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases on thyroid diseases: Evidence from Mendelian randomization study

Provisionally accepted
Ruixuan You Ruixuan You 1Jiayue Duan Jiayue Duan 1Yong Zhou Yong Zhou 1Jiangfan Yu Jiangfan Yu 1Puyu Zou Puyu Zou 1Yi Wei Yi Wei 1Ke Chai Ke Chai 1Zhuotong Zeng Zhuotong Zeng 1Yangfan Xiao Yangfan Xiao 2Lingqing Yuan Lingqing Yuan 1*Rong Xiao Rong Xiao 1*
  • 1 Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
  • 2 Xinxiang Second People's Hospital, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To clarify the controversy between inflammatory or autoimmune skin diseases and thyroid diseases, we performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses.Genetic data on factors associated with atopic dermatitis (AD, n=40,835), seborrheic dermatitis (SD, n=339,277), acne (n=363,927), rosacea (n=299,421), urticaria (n=374,758), psoriasis (n=373,338), psoriasis vulgaris (n=369,830), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, n=14,267), vitiligo (n=353,348), alopecia areata (AA, n=361,822), pemphigus (n=375,929), bullous pemphigoid (BP, n=376,274), systemic sclerosis (SSc, n=376,864), localized scleroderma (LS, n=353,449), hypothyroidism (n=314,995 or n=337,159), and hyperthyroidism (n=281,683 or n=337,159) were derived from genome-wide association summary statistics of European ancestry.The inverse variance weighted method was employed to obtain the causal estimates of inflammatory or autoimmune skin diseases on the risk of thyroid diseases, complemented by MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO).AD, SLE, SD, and psoriasis vulgaris were associated with an increased risk of hypothyroidism, whereas BP was associated with a lower risk of hypothyroidism (all with p < 0.05). The multivariable MR analyses showed that AD (OR = 1.053; 95%CI: 1.015-1.092; p = 0.006), SLE (OR = 1.093; 95%CI: 1.059-1.127; p < 0.001), and SD (OR = 1.006; 95%CI: 1.002-1.010; p = 0.006) independently and predominately contributed to the genetic causal effect on hypothyroidism after adjusting for smoking. The results showed no causal effects of inflammatory or autoimmune skin diseases on hyperthyroidism.The findings showed a causal effect of AD, SLE, SD on hypothyroidism, but further investigations should be conducted to explore the pathogenic mechanisms underlying these relationships.

    Keywords: Inflammatory skin diseases1, autoimmune skin diseases2, hypothyroidism3, hyperthyroidism4, Mendelian randomization5

    Received: 19 Feb 2024; Accepted: 09 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 You, Duan, Zhou, Yu, Zou, Wei, Chai, Zeng, Xiao, Yuan and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lingqing Yuan, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
    Rong Xiao, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

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