Causal relationship between psoriasis and sudden deafness: a Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the genetic link between psoriasis and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

Methods: From a genetic standpoint, this study further highlighted the connection between psoriasis and SSNHL. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) connected to SSNHL could be found using a genome-wide association study from the IEU OpenGWAS project website. In addition, the inverse variance weighted (IVW) technique was used to evaluate the connection between psoriasis and SSNHL.

Results: According to Mendelian randomization analysis, IVW supported the causal relationship between psoriasis and SSNHL (OR = 808.86, 95%CI 3.32 ~ 196942.07, P = 0.02). In the sensitivity analysis, there was no heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy, and the Leave-one-out analysis suggested that the causal effect was robust.The results of MR-Egger (Q = 13.53, P = 0.76) and IVW (Q = 14.73, P = 0.74) showed that there was no heterogeneity in SNPs, and the results were reliable. We also performed a horizontal pleiotropic analysis (P = 0.29), which showed that there was no horizontal pleiotropy and no confounding factors in the study.

Conclusion: From a genetic perspective, there is a causal relationship between psoriasis and an increased risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; Psoriasis; Single nucleotide polymorphism; Sudden deafness.