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Taylor K, Wootton RE, Yang Q, Oddie S, Wright J, Yang TC, Magnus M, Andreassen OA, Borges MC, Caputo M, Lawlor DA. The effect of maternal BMI, smoking and alcohol on congenital heart diseases: a Mendelian randomisation study. BMC Med 2023; 21:35. [PMID: 36721200 PMCID: PMC9890815 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-023-02731-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) remain a significant cause of infant morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological studies have explored maternal risk factors for offspring CHDs, but few have used genetic epidemiology methods to improve causal inference. METHODS Three birth cohorts, including 65,510 mother/offspring pairs (N = 562 CHD cases) were included. We used Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses to explore the effects of genetically predicted maternal body mass index (BMI), smoking and alcohol on offspring CHDs. We generated genetic risk scores (GRS) using summary data from large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and validated the strength and relevance of the genetic instrument for exposure levels during pregnancy. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of CHD per 1 standard deviation (SD) higher GRS. Results for the three cohorts were combined using random-effects meta-analyses. We performed several sensitivity analyses including multivariable MR to check the robustness of our findings. RESULTS The GRSs associated with the exposures during pregnancy in all three cohorts. The associations of the GRS for maternal BMI with offspring CHD (pooled OR (95% confidence interval) per 1SD higher GRS: 0.95 (0.88, 1.03)), lifetime smoking (pooled OR: 1.01 (0.93, 1.09)) and alcoholic drinks per week (pooled OR: 1.06 (0.98, 1.15)) were close to the null. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS Our results do not provide robust evidence of an effect of maternal BMI, smoking or alcohol on offspring CHDs. However, results were imprecise. Our findings need to be replicated, and highlight the need for more and larger studies with maternal and offspring genotype and offspring CHD data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kurt Taylor
- Bristol Medical School, Population Health Science, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK.
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK.
| | - Robyn E Wootton
- Bristol Medical School, Population Health Science, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- Nic Waals Institute, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Qian Yang
- Bristol Medical School, Population Health Science, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Sam Oddie
- University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| | - John Wright
- Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
| | - Tiffany C Yang
- Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford, UK
| | - Maria Magnus
- Bristol Medical School, Population Health Science, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ole A Andreassen
- Division of Mental Health and Addiction, NORMENT Centre, Oslo University Hospital and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Oslo University Hospital and Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway
| | - Maria Carolina Borges
- Bristol Medical School, Population Health Science, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Massimo Caputo
- Bristol Medical School, Translational Science, Bristol, UK
| | - Deborah A Lawlor
- Bristol Medical School, Population Health Science, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK
- Bristol Medical School, Translational Science, Bristol, UK
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