High serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is a risk factor for cerebral palsy：a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background: The causal relationship between the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D(25-OH-D) in the blood and cerebral palsy (CP) remains uncertain. Prior research has indicated that the levels of 25-OH-D in the serum of children with cerebral palsy are lower compared to those in normally developing children. Nevertheless, there is a limited number of studies assessing the impact of serum 25-OH-D concentration on CP. In contrast to the prevailing notion, Mendelian randomization (MR) can be utilized to thoroughly evaluate the reciprocal causal impacts between serum 25-OH-D level and CP. Methods: A bidirectional two-sample MR analysis was conducted by utilizing combined data from genome-wide association studies that included European populations with CP (286 individuals with CP and 216992 individuals as controls). This analysis utilized four different methods to assess the bidirectional relationship between 25-OH-D and CP. To assess the inflexibility of the findings, a sensitivity analysis was conducted. According to MR-Steiger filtering, it was found that all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) had a higher level of association with 25-OH-D compared to CP. Results: Limited evidence suggested that there were positive causal connections between genetically predicted serum 25-OH-D level and CP, with an odds ratio of 1.88 (95% confidence interval 1.062–3.280; p= 0.036). Nevertheless, the inverse pattern did not suggest a causal relationship between CP and serum 25-OH-D level. No clear pleiotropy or heterogeneity was found in the sensitivity analysis. Conclusion: Our analysis presents fresh evidence supporting the moderate causal influence of serum 25-OH-D level on CP. Further investigation is necessary to examine the causal impacts of CP on serum 25-OH-D levels.