Though significant correlations between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and hypothyroidism have been found in earlier observational studies, their underlying causal relationship is still unknown. Mendelian randomization (MR) was used in the current study to assess the bidirectional causation between RA and hypothyroidism.
We gathered summary data from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of RA and hypothyroidism in people of European descent. Then, using data from the FinnGen consortium, we replicated our findings. Three approaches were employed to assess the causal link between RA and hypothyroidism: MR-Egger, weighted median (WM), and inverse variance weighted (IVW). The pleiotropy and heterogeneity were examined using a variety of techniques, including the MR-Egger intercept, the MR-PRESSO approach, the leave-one-out method, and the Cochran’s Q test.
The study looked at a bidirectional incidental relationship between RA and hypothyroidism. The risk of hypothyroidism increased with RA (IVW odds ratio (OR) = 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.18–1.39,
The present study established a bidirectional causal link between RA and hypothyroidism. However, it differs slightly from the findings of prior observational studies, suggesting that future research should concentrate on the interaction mechanisms between RA and hypothyroidism.