Liu Zhongxing, Xiang Guohong, Wang Lichen, Duan Lincheng, Guo Peng
Traditional Chinese Medicine Prevention and Treatment Center, Chengdu Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Hospital, Chengdu First People's Hospital, Chengdu, China.
School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Feb 7;104(6):e41413. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000041413.
Prior research has indicated a connection between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and hearing impairment (HI), although there is disagreement among researchers. An extensive assessment of the causal relationship between RA and HI was the aim of this Mendelian randomization (MR) study. We examined summary-level data from RA and HL genome-wide association studies using inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis. We further supplemented the results with weighted median (WM), MR-Egger, MR-RAPS, and maximum likelihood techniques. We used sensitivity analyses to check the accuracy of the MR analysis results. Genetically, higher RA substantially increases the likelihood of HI (IVW: P = 8.78 × 10-03, odds ratio (OR) = 1.014, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.003-1.024). Sensitivity analysis reveals a consistent direction of the association using the following methods: Bayesian MR (P = 8.72 × 10-03, OR = 1.014, 95% CI: 1.004-1.025), MR robust adjustment profile score (P = 2.31 × 10-02, OR = 1.013, 95% CI: 1.002-1.024), maximum likelihood method (P = 2.70 × 10-02, OR = 1.014, 95% CI: 0.996-1.026), WM (P = 1.35 × 10-01, OR = 1.012, 95% CI: 0.996-1.029), and MR-Egger (P = 1.41 × 10-01, OR = 1.011, 95% CI: 0.996-1.027). Despite not achieving statistical significance, the WM and MR-Egger approaches offered reliable guidance. Moreover, we replicated our results on other datasets and obtained similar results (IVW: P = 8.71 × 10-03, OR = 1.016, 95% CI: 1.004-1.028), indicating the validity of our results. Our study provides evidence linking RA to a higher risk of HI. In order to gain more insight into treatments that change the disease or prevent hearing loss, audiological testing is necessary for the diagnosis and follow-up of individuals with RA.
先前的研究表明类风湿性关节炎（RA）与听力障碍（HI）之间存在联系，尽管研究人员之间存在分歧。本孟德尔随机化（MR）研究的目的是对RA与HI之间的因果关系进行广泛评估。我们使用逆方差加权（IVW）分析检查了来自RA和HL全基因组关联研究的汇总水平数据。我们进一步用加权中位数（WM）、MR-Egger、MR-RAPS和最大似然技术补充了结果。我们使用敏感性分析来检验MR分析结果的准确性。从遗传学角度来看，较高的RA显著增加了HI的可能性（IVW：P = 8.78 × 10⁻⁰³，优势比（OR）= 1.014，95%置信区间（CI）：1.003 - 1.024）。敏感性分析显示，使用以下方法时关联方向一致：贝叶斯MR（P = 8.72 × 10⁻⁰³，OR = 1.014，95% CI：1.004 - 1.025）、MR稳健调整轮廓评分（P = 2.31 × 10⁻⁰²，OR = 1.013，95% CI：1.002 - 1.024）、最大似然法（P = 2.70 × 10⁻⁰²，OR = 1.014，95% CI：0.996 - 1.026）、WM（P = 1.35 × 10⁻⁰¹，OR = 1.012，95% CI：0.996 - 1.029）和MR-Egger（P = 1.41 × 10⁻⁰¹，OR = 1.011，95% CI：0.996 - 1.027）。尽管未达到统计学显著性，但WM和MR-Egger方法提供了可靠的指导。此外，我们在其他数据集上重复了我们的结果并获得了类似的结果（IVW：P = 8.71 × 10⁻⁰³，OR = 1.016，95% CI：1.004 - 1.028），表明我们结果的有效性。我们的研究提供了证据，将RA与更高的HI风险联系起来。为了更深入了解改变疾病或预防听力损失的治疗方法，对RA患者进行听力测试对于诊断和随访是必要的。
