Examining the causal association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and caries in children and adults: a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach

Wellcome Open Research

article

Serena A. Dodhia¹  Nicola X. West¹  Steven J. Thomas¹  Nicholas J. Timpson²  Ingegerd Johansson⁴  Pernilla Lif Holgerson⁵  Tom Dudding¹  Simon Haworth¹ 

[1] Bristol Dental School, University of Bristol;Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol;Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, University of Bristol;Department of Odontology, Section of Cariology, Umea University;Department of Odontology, Section of Pedodontics, Umea University

关键词: Vitamin D;    Dental caries;    Mendelian randomization;    25-hydroxyvitamin D;   

DOI  :  10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16369.2

学科分类：内科医学

来源: Wellcome

【 摘 要 】

Background: Prior observational studies have reported that higher levels of vitamin D are associated with decreased caries risk in children. However, these studies are prone to bias and confounding so do not provide causal inference. Genetic variants associated with a risk factor of interest can be used as proxies, in a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, to test for causal association with an outcome. The objective was to estimate the causal association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) (the commonly measured vitamin D metabolite in blood) and dental caries using a two-sample MR approach which estimates the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome.Methods: A total of79 genetic variants reliably associated with 25(OH)D were identified from genome-wide association studies and used as a proxy measure of 25(OH)D. The association of this proxy measure with three outcome measures was tested; specifically: caries in primary teeth (n=17,035, aged 3-12 years), caries in permanent teeth in childhood and adolescence (n=13,386, aged 6-18 years), and caries severity in adulthood proxied by decayed, missing and filled tooth surfaces (DMFS) counts (n=26,792, aged 18-93 years).Results: The estimated causal effect of a one standard deviation increase in natural log-transformed 25(OH)D could be summarized as an odds ratio of 1.06 (95%CI: 0.81, 1.31; P=0.66) for caries in primary teeth and 1.00 (95%CI: 0.76, 1.23; P=0.97) for caries in permanent teeth in childhood and adolescence. In adults, the estimated casual effect of a one standard deviation increase in natural log-transformed 25(OH)D was 0.31 fewer affected tooth surfaces (95%CI: from 1.81 fewer DMFS to 1.19 more DMFS; P=0.68)Conclusions: The MR-derived effect estimates for these three measures are small in magnitude with wide confidence intervals and do not provide evidence for a causal relationship between 25(OH)D and dental caries.

【 授权许可】

CC BY