Association between educational attainment and thyroid cancer: evidence from a univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization study

Background Thyroid cancer and educational attainment have been related in observational studies. It is unclear if these correlations indicate causative relationships. Methods Using large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets, we conducted an univariable and multivariable Mendelian ra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Endocrine 2024-09, Vol.85 (3), p.1238-1243
Main Authors: Fan, Siyue, Jiang, Hongzhan, Shen, Jiali, Lin, Huihui, Yu, Doudou, Yang, Liping, Zheng, Nengtong, Chen, Lijuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body Mass Index
Diabetes
Education
Educational attainment
Educational Status
Endocrinology
Female
Genetic analysis
Genome-wide association studies
Genome-Wide Association Study
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Internal Medicine
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mendelian Randomization Analysis
multidisciplinary
Original Article
Pleiotropy
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Risk Factors
Science
Sensitivity analysis
Thyroid cancer
Thyroid Neoplasms - epidemiology
Thyroid Neoplasms - genetics
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Summary:Background Thyroid cancer and educational attainment have been related in observational studies. It is unclear if these correlations indicate causative relationships. Methods Using large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets, we conducted an univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) study to assess a potential connection between educational attainment and thyroid cancer. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) analysis method is used as our primary outcome. Additionally, we carry out several sensitivity analyses to evaluate the pleiotropy and robustness of the causal estimates. Results Univariate MR study shows 4.2 years of additional education is associated with a 41.4% reduction in thyroid cancer risk (OR = 0.586; 95% CI: 0.378–0.909; P  = 0.017). Further multivariable MR analysis revealed that body mass index (BMI) acted as a partial mediating factor in the protective impact of higher educational attainment against thyroid cancer. Conclusion This MR study provided genetic evidence that longer education attainment is related to a lower risk of thyroid cancer. Strategies of expanding education may reduce the burden of thyroid cancer in the world.
ISSN:1559-0100
1355-008X
1559-0100
DOI:10.1007/s12020-024-03796-2