Potential causal association of diabetes mellitus and blood glucose related indexes with the onset of epilepsy: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

AIM

Diabetes mellitus (DM) may promote the occurrence of epilepsy through mechanisms, such as inflammation, immune imbalance, and cerebrovascular injury, caused by metabolic abnormalities. However, evidence for the effects of DM and blood glucose (BG) on the risk of epilepsy is limited. Herein, this study used the Mendelian randomization (MR) method to investigate the potential causal associations of DM and BG-related indexes with epilepsy.

METHODS

In this two-sample MR study, summary statistics data of the genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on exposures, including type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), T2DM, fasting glucose, and glycated hemoglobin (HbAlc), were extracted from the MRC-Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MRC-IEU). The GWAS data on study outcomes, including epilepsy, focal epilepsy, and generalized epilepsy, were obtained from the FinnGen consortium. MR-Egger regression was used to examine horizontal pleiotropism of instrumental variables (IVs), and Cochran's Q statistics was used to quantify the heterogeneity. MR analysis methods including inverse variance weighted (IVW) tests, weighted median, and MR-Egger were utilized to investigate the causal associations between DM and BG-related indexes with epilepsy. The evaluation indexes were odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Reverse causal association analyses were also performed. In addition, IVW-radial and leave-one-out tests were utilized for sensitivity analyses.

RESULTS

IVW estimates suggested that T1DM has potential causal associations with epilepsy (OR = 1.057, 95% CI: 1.031-1.084) and generalized epilepsy (OR = 1.066, 95% CI: 1.018-1.116). No significant reverse causal associations of T1DM with epilepsy or generalized epilepsy were found (all > 0.05). In addition, sensitivity analysis results identified no outlier, indicating that the associations of T1DM with epilepsy and generalized epilepsy were relatively robust.

CONCLUSION

Patients with T1DM had a potential risk of developing epilepsy, and prompt treatment of DM and dynamic monitoring may be beneficial to prevent epilepsy in this high-risk population. However, the causal associations of DM and BG with epilepsy may warrant further verification.