YUAN Hongxiu 1,2 , ZENG Hong 3 , TANG Fajuan 2,4 , LI Xihong 2,4
  • 1. Department of Pediatrics, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 2. Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Sichuan University, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 3. Department of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China;
  • 4. Department of Emergency, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, P. R. China;
LI Xihong, Email: hilixihong@163.com
Dietary habits; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Mendelian randomization analysis; Genome-wide association study; Causal inference
10.7507/1672-2531.202404027
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Objective  This study employs Mendelian randomization analysis to explore the causal relationship between dietary habits and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods We obtained data from the MRC-IEU database on five dietary habits as instrumental variables for exposure "never eating dairy products" "never eating eggs or foods containing eggs" "never eating sugar or foods/drinks containing sugar" "never eating wheat products" and "I eat all of the above". Summary data related to SLE were retrieved from the MRC-IEU database for the discovery cohort (designated as MSLE) and from a Finnish database for the validation cohort (recorded as FSLE). Two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses were conducted using inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR-Egger, weighted median, Simple Mode, and Weighted Mode methods to investigate the causal relationship between dietary habits and SLE. The MR-Egger intercept test was performed to assess the presence of horizontal pleiotropy, while the leave-one-out method was employed to verify the stability of the results, with Cochran’s Q test and funnel plots used to evaluate heterogeneity. Results Mendelian randomization analysis indicated that never eating wheat products increases the risk of developing SLE (IVW: P<0.05). In contrast, there was no significant causal relationship between the consumption of dairy products, eggs or foods containing eggs, or the consumption of all of the above with SLE (IVW: P>0.05). Additionally, there was no significant causal relationship between never sugar or foods/drinks containing sugar and MSLE (IVW: P=0.877), although a potential causal association with FSLE was suggested (IVW: P=0.016). The MR-Egger intercept test indicated no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy (P>0.05). Conclusion Never eating wheat products may be an independent risk factor for SLE. However, the causal relationship between never sugar or foods/drinks containing sugar and SLE remains indeterminate.

Citation： YUAN Hongxiu, ZENG Hong, TANG Fajuan, LI Xihong. Causal relationship between dietary habits and systemic lupus erythematosus: a Mendelian randomization analysis. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2025, 25(5): 512-518. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.202404027 Copy

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