AUTHOR=Shan Jiayi , Hu Xiaoyun , Chen Tianzhu , Wang Yuyang , Huang Baoyi , Xin Yijun , Xu Hua TITLE=COVID-19 vaccination and the risk of autoimmune diseases: a Mendelian randomization study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=12 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1322140 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1322140 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=Background

In recent times, reports have emerged suggesting that a variety of autoimmune disorders may arise after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. However, causality and underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Methods

We collected summary statistics of COVID-19 vaccination and 31 autoimmune diseases from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) as exposure and outcome, respectively. Random-effects inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode were used as analytical methods through Mendelian randomization (MR), and heterogeneity and sensitivity analysis were performed.

Results

We selected 72 instrumental variables for exposure (p < 5 × 10−6; r2 < 0.001, genetic distance = 10,000 kb), and MR analyses showed that COVID-19 vaccination was causally associated with an increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) (IVW, OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.065–2.197, p = 0.026) and ulcerative colitis (UC) (IVW, OR: 1.00, 95% CI: 1.000–1.003, p = 0.039). If exposure was refined (p < 5 × 10−8; r2 < 0.001, genetic distance = 10,000 kb), the associations became negative. No causality was found for the remaining outcomes. These results were robust to sensitivity and heterogeneity analyses.

Conclusion

Our study provided potential evidence for the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the risk of MS and UC occurrence, but it lacks sufficient robustness, which could provide a new idea for public health policy.