The causal effect of exposure to air pollution on risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes: A two-sample Mendelian randomisation study

Abstract

BackgroundEpidemiological studies have examined the relation between air pollution (NOx, NO2, PM2.5, PM2.5–10, and PM10) and adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs). There's increasing evidence that air pollution increases the risk of APOs. However, the results of these studies are controversial, and the causal relation remains uncertain. We aimed to assess whether a genetic causal link exists between air pollution and APOs and the potential effects of this relation. MethodsA novel two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) study used pooled data from a large-scale complete genome correlation study. The primary analysis method was inverse variance weighting (IVW), which explored the expose-outcome relationship for assessing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with air pollution. Further sensitivity analysis, including MR-PRESSO, MR-Egger regression, and leave-one analysis, was used to test the consistency of the results. ResultsThere was a significant correlation between air pollution-related SNPs and APOs. A robust causal link was found between genetic susceptibility to air pollution and APOs. ConclusionsOur MR analysis reveals a genetic causal relation between air pollution and APOs, which may help provide new insights into further mechanisms and clinical studies in air pollution-mediated APOs.