Respiratory Research (Mar 2024)

Association and mediation between educational attainment and respiratory diseases: a Mendelian randomization study

  • Guohui Lan,
  • Mengying Xie,
  • Jieli Lan,
  • Zelin Huang,
  • Xiaowei Xie,
  • Mengdan Liang,
  • Zhehui Chen,
  • Xiannuan Jiang,
  • Xiaoli Lu,
  • Xiaoying Ye,
  • Tingting Xu,
  • Yiming Zeng,
  • Xiaoxu Xie

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-024-02722-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Abstract Background Respiratory diseases are a major health burden, and educational inequalities may influence disease prevalence. We aim to evaluate the causal link between educational attainment and respiratory disease, and to determine the mediating influence of several known modifiable risk factors. Methods We conducted a two-step, two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables for educational attainment and respiratory diseases. Additionally, we performed a multivariable MR analysis to estimate the direct causal effect of each exposure variable included in the analysis on the outcome, conditional on the other exposure variables included in the model. The mediating roles of body mass index (BMI), physical activity, and smoking were also assessed. Findings MR analyses provide evidence of genetically predicted educational attainment on the risk of FEV1 (β = 0.10, 95% CI 0.06, 0.14), FVC (β = 0.12, 95% CI 0.07, 0.16), FEV1/FVC (β = − 0.005, 95% CI − 0.05, 0.04), lung cancer (OR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.45, 0.65) and asthma (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.78, 0.94). Multivariable MR dicated the effect of educational attainment on FEV1 (β = 0.10, 95% CI 0.04, 0.16), FVC (β = 0.07, 95% CI 0.01, 0.12), FEV1/FVC (β = 0.07, 95% CI 0.01, 0.01), lung cancer (OR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.42, 0.71) and asthma (OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.78, 0.99) persisted after adjusting BMI and cigarettes per day. Of the 23 potential risk factors, BMI, smoking may partially mediate the relationship between education and lung disease. Conclusion High levels of educational attainment have a potential causal protective effect on respiratory diseases. Reducing smoking and adiposity may be a target for the prevention of respiratory diseases attributable to low educational attainment.

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