Genetic Association between the Levels of Plasma Lipids and the Risk of Aortic Aneurysm and Aortic Dissection: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Abstract

Although a growing number of studies have attempted to uncover the relationship between plasma lipids and the risk of aortic aneurysm (AA), it remains controversial. Meanwhile, the relationship between plasma lipids and the risk of aortic dissection (AD) has not been reported on. We conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate the potential relationship between genetically predicted plasma levels of lipids and the risk of AA and AD. Summary data on the relationship between genetic variants and plasma lipids were obtained from the UK Biobank and Global Lipids Genetics Consortium studies, and data on the association between genetic variants and AA or AD were taken from the FinnGen consortium study. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) and four other MR analysis methods were used to evaluate effect estimates. Results showed that genetically predicted plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, or triglycerides were positively correlated with the risk of AA, and plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were negatively correlated with the risk of AA. However, no causal relationship was found between elevated lipid levels and the risk of AD. Our study revealed a causal relationship between plasma lipids and the risk of AA, while plasma lipids had no effect on the risk of AD.