Xie Rongfang, Chen Shiyu, Li Xiaojian, Lan Zhihui
Department of Postgraduate, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
Department of Respiration, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
Front Genet. 2025 Mar 4;16:1294105. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1294105. eCollection 2025.
A plethora of observational studies has established a significant correlation between Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Telomere Length (TL). Nevertheless, a universal consensus on precise causal association and its directionality has not yet been achieved. To shed light on this, we employed Mendelian Randomization (MR) to investigate the bidirectional causal association between OSA and TL.
Utilizing publicly accessible Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) datasets, we procured genetic data pertinent to MR analysis. The study incorporated samples from both the OSA (n = 217,955) and TL (n = 472,174) cohorts. In the forward MR analysis, OSA served as the exposure variable and TL as the outcome. Conversely, the reverse MR analysis treated TL as the exposure and OSA as the outcome. We employed the Inverse variance weighted (IVW) as the primary methodology for MR analysis. To ensure the robustness of our MR findings, multiple sensitivity analyses were performed.
In the forward MR analysis, a negative correlation was indicated between OSA and TL (IVW: odds ratio (OR) = 0.964, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.939-0.980, P = 0.006 < 0.05). However, no significant association was identified between TL and the risk of OSA in the reverse MR analysis (IVW: OR = 0.965, 95% CI: 0.870-1.070, P = 0.499 > 0.05).
Our study indicated a potential association between OSA and the increased risk of shorter TL, offering vital academic support for future clinical studies on this association.
大量观察性研究已证实阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）与端粒长度（TL）之间存在显著相关性。然而，对于确切的因果关联及其方向性尚未达成普遍共识。为阐明这一点，我们采用孟德尔随机化（MR）方法来研究OSA与TL之间的双向因果关联。
利用公开可用的全基因组关联研究（GWAS）数据集，我们获取了与MR分析相关的遗传数据。该研究纳入了OSA队列（n = 217,955）和TL队列（n = 472,174）的样本。在前瞻性MR分析中，OSA作为暴露变量，TL作为结果变量。相反，反向MR分析将TL作为暴露变量，OSA作为结果变量。我们采用逆方差加权（IVW）作为MR分析的主要方法。为确保MR结果的稳健性，我们进行了多项敏感性分析。
在前瞻性MR分析中，OSA与TL之间呈负相关（IVW：优势比（OR）= 0.964，95%置信区间（CI）：0.939 - 0.980，P = 0.006 < 0.05）。然而，在反向MR分析中，未发现TL与OSA风险之间存在显著关联（IVW：OR = 0.965，95% CI：0.870 - 1.070，P = 0.499 > 0.05）。
我们的研究表明OSA与较短TL风险增加之间可能存在关联，为未来关于这种关联的临床研究提供了重要的学术支持。
