Application of mendelian randomization to study the causal relationship between smoking and the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Background Smoking is a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Few studies have assessed the causal relationship between smoking and COPD using Mendelian randomization. Methods Exposure and outcome datasets were obtained from the IEU Open GWAS project (https://gwas.mrcieu.ac.uk/). The exposure data set includes smoking (ever smoke, smoking/smokers in household, exposure to tobacco smoke at home). The outcome data set includes COPD susceptibility and acute COPD admissions. The main methods of Mendelian randomization analysis are weighted median method and MR-Egger method. Heterogeneity and polymorphism analyses were performed to ensure the accuracy of the results. Resluts ever smoke increased the risk of COPD prevalence, and ever smoke and smoking/smokers in household increased the risk of acute COPD admission. Conclusion Therefore, we should enhance the management of nonpharmacological prescription of COPD to reduce the individual incidence.