IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0039321.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Serum Uric Acid and Adiposity: Deciphering Causality Using a Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Tanica Lyngdoh
  • Philippe Vuistiner
  • Pedro Marques-Vidal
  • Valentin Rousson
  • Gérard Waeber
  • Peter Vollenweider
  • Murielle Bochud

Abstract

Background: Although the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and adiposity is well established, the direction of the causality is still unclear in the presence of conflicting evidences. We used a bidirectional Mendelian randomization approach to explore the nature and direction of causality between SUA and adiposity in a population-based study of Caucasians aged 35 to 75 years. Methods and Findings: We used, as instrumental variables, rs6855911 within the SUA gene SLC2A9 in one direction, and combinations of SNPs within the adiposity genes FTO, MC4R and TMEM18 in the other direction. Adiposity markers included weight, body mass index, waist circumference and fat mass. We applied a two-stage least squares regression: a regression of SUA/adiposity markers on our instruments in the first stage and a regression of the response of interest on the fitted values from the first stage regression in the second stage. SUA explained by the SLC2A9 instrument was not associated to fat mass (regression coefficient [95% confidence interval]: 0.05 [−0.10, 0.19] for fat mass) contrasting with the ordinary least square estimate (0.37 [0.34, 0.40]). By contrast, fat mass explained by genetic variants of the FTO, MC4R and TMEM18 genes was positively and significantly associated to SUA (0.31 [0.01, 0.62]), similar to the ordinary least square estimate (0.27 [0.25, 0.29]). Results were similar for the other adiposity markers. Conclusions: Using a bidirectional Mendelian randomization approach in adult Caucasians, our findings suggest that elevated SUA is a consequence rather than a cause of adiposity.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanica Lyngdoh & Philippe Vuistiner & Pedro Marques-Vidal & Valentin Rousson & Gérard Waeber & Peter Vollenweider & Murielle Bochud, 2012. "Serum Uric Acid and Adiposity: Deciphering Causality Using a Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-8, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0039321
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039321
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0039321
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0039321&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0039321?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    2. Nuala A Sheehan & Vanessa Didelez & Paul R Burton & Martin D Tobin, 2008. "Mendelian Randomisation and Causal Inference in Observational Epidemiology," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(8), pages 1-6, August.
    3. André Scherag & Christian Dina & Anke Hinney & Vincent Vatin & Susann Scherag & Carla I G Vogel & Timo D Müller & Harald Grallert & H-Erich Wichmann & Beverley Balkau & Barbara Heude & Marjo-Riitta Ja, 2010. "Two New Loci for Body-Weight Regulation Identified in a Joint Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Early-Onset Extreme Obesity in French and German Study Groups," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(4), pages 1-10, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Black, Nicole & Hughes, Robert & Jones, Andrew M., 2018. "The health care costs of childhood obesity in Australia: An instrumental variables approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Hillebrand, Eric & Schnabl, Gunther & Ulu, Yasemin, 2009. "Japanese foreign exchange intervention and the yen-to-dollar exchange rate: A simultaneous equations approach using realized volatility," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 490-505, July.
    3. Cho, Seo-young & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2010. "Compliance for big brothers: An empirical analysis on the impact of the anti-trafficking protocol," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 118, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    4. B. James Deaton & Getu Hailu & Xiaoye Zhou, 2014. "Poverty in Canada: Does Manufacturing Matter?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 362-376, June.
    5. Lucia Rizzica, 2018. "When the Cat’s Away The Effects of Spousal Migration on Investments on Children," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 85-108.
    6. Wo[ss]mann, Ludger & West, Martin, 2006. "Class-size effects in school systems around the world: Evidence from between-grade variation in TIMSS," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 695-736, April.
    7. Vieira, Flávio & MacDonald, Ronald & Damasceno, Aderbal, 2012. "The role of institutions in cross-section income and panel data growth models: A deeper investigation on the weakness and proliferation of instruments," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 127-140.
    8. Alston Lee J. & Mueller Bernardo, 2018. "Priests, Conflicts and Property Rights: the Impacts on Tenancy and Land Use in Brazil," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, June.
    9. McCausland, David & Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2005. "Some are Punished and Some are Rewarded: A Study of the Impact of Performance Pay on Job Satisfaction," MPRA Paper 14243, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Morricone, Serena & Munari, Federico & Oriani, Raffaele & de Rassenfosse, Gaetan, 2017. "Commercialization Strategy and IPO Underpricing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1133-1141.
    11. Joseph P. Byrne & Alexandros Kontonikas & Alberto Montagnoli, 2013. "International Evidence on the New Keynesian Phillips Curve Using Aggregate and Disaggregate Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(5), pages 913-932, August.
    12. Hebous, Shafik & Zimmermann, Tom, 2014. "Revisiting the Narrative Approach of Estimating Fiscal Multipliers," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100408, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Chan-Jane Lin & Tawei Wang & Chao-Jung Pan, 2016. "Financial reporting quality and investment decisions for family firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 499-532, June.
    14. Hilber, Christian A.L., 2010. "New housing supply and the dilution of social capital," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 419-437, May.
    15. Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2018. "The impact of market competition on the relation between CEO power and firm innovation," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 36-50.
    16. Sean M. Dougherty, 2014. "Legal Reform, Contract Enforcement and Firm Size in Mexico," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 825-844, September.
    17. Adrian Nicholas Gachet, 2022. "Help Me Help You? Populism and Distributive Politics in Ecuador," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2205, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    18. Marie Bjørneby & Annette Alstadsæter & Kjetil Telle, 2018. "Collusive tax evasion by employers and employees. Evidence from a randomized fi eld experiment in Norway," Discussion Papers 891, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    19. Berthélemy Michel & Bonev Petyo & Dussaux Damien & Söderberg Magnus, 2019. "Methods for strengthening a weak instrument in the case of a persistent treatment," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(1), pages 1-30, February.
    20. Bing Guo & Yun Lou & David Pérez‐Castrillo, 2015. "Investment, Duration, and Exit Strategies for Corporate and Independent Venture Capital‐Backed Start‐Ups," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 415-455, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0039321. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.