Detecting potential causal relationship between gut microbiota and gastroesophageal reflux disease: a Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Abstract Background Despite previous research indicating a strong correlation between gut microbiota (GM) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the exact causal relationship between these factors remains uncertain. Consequently, we conducted an extensive investigation utilizing a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to elucidate the influence of GM on the susceptibility to developing GERD. Method This study utilized instrumental variables derived from 211 GM taxa obtained from the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) data. Subsequently, a MR study was conducted to evaluate the impact of GM on GERD, utilizing data from the IEU open GWAS summary data repository, which included 129,080 cases and 473,524 controls. The primary method employed to analyze causality in this study was the inverse variance weighted (IVW) approach, and a range of sensitivity analyses were conducted to ensure the reliability and consistency of the findings. Results The IVW method revealed a positive association between the class Mollicutes (OR: 1.0976, 95% CI: 1.0046–1.1992, p = 0.0393), genus Coprococcus2 (OR 1.0620, 95% CI: 1.0026–1.1248, p = 0.0405), and phylum Tenericutes (OR 1.0976, 95% CI: 1.0043–1.1996, p = 0.0400) with the risk of GERD. However, the weighted median method did not support genus Coprococcus2 (OR 1.0672, 95% CI: 0.9893–1.1512, p = 0.0928) as a risk factor for GERD. Sensitivity analyses further validated the reliability of the MR findings. Conclusion Our study contributes evidence to the close relationship between the GM and GERD. Future research should focus on developing microbiome-oriented therapeutic approaches for managing GERD.