%0 Journal Article
%T Estimated bone mineral density and white matter hyperintensities: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.
%A Li X
%A Wu X
%A Zhou G
%A Mo D
%A Lin X
%A Wang P
%A Zeng Y
%A Luo M
%J Bone
%V 187
%N 0
%D 2024 Jun 22
%M 38914213
%F 4.626
%R 10.1016/j.bone.2024.117138
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>Greater white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in older adults have been associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fractures and falls. However, it is unclear whether there is a causal relationship between BMD reduction and WMH. In this study, Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to find the causality between WMH and estimated BMD (eBMD).<BR><B>METHODS: </B>We performed a two-sample bidirectional MR analysis using statistical data obtained from publicly available genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The main method of MR analysis is the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method. To identify and account for the impact of horizontal pleiotropy, we also employed MR-Egger regression, MR pleiotropy residual sum, and outlier (MR-PRESSO).<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>MR analysis found a causal relationship between eBMD and WMH (IVW OR = 0.938, 95 % CI: 0.889-0.990, p = 0.020). Our causal estimates are unlikely to be distorted by horizontal pleiotropy according to heterogeneity test (both p > 0.05) and MR-Egger regression (p > 0.05). However, in the reverse MR analysis, there was no evidence that WMH was causally correlated with eBMD (IVW OR = 0.979, 95 % CI: 0.954-1.005, p = 0.109).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Our results suggest that low eBMD increased the risk of WMH; conversely, no evidence that WMH causally affects eBMD was found.