Luo Xiaoli, Zuo Wenqi, Ren Quanwei, Wang Linlin, Wu Di, Xiang Yilin, Zhong Shixun
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400016, China.
Department of Otolaryngology, Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Chongqing, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 7;15(1):28921. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92952-3.
Numerous compelling epidemiological studies have linked air pollution to Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL). However, the causal relationship behind this association has not yet been established. We employed a Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) approach to investigate the causal relationship between air pollution (nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, PM, PM, and PM) and SSNHL.Independent genetic variants associated with air pollution and SSNHL were selected as instrumental variables (IVs) at a genome-wide significance level. All summary data were obtained from GWAS databases. The primary method used for MR analysis was the Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) method, supplemented by various MR analyses method, including weighted median, simple mode, weighted mode, and MR-Egger, to ensure robustness. Cochran's Q test was employed for heterogeneity assessment. To identify potential pleiotropy, we utilized MR-Egger regression and the MR-PRESSO global test. Additionally, sensitivity analyses were performed using the leave-one-out approach. The MR analysis using the IVW method showed no substantial evidence supporting a direct causal relationship between air pollution and the risk of SSNHL (Nitrogen dioxide: P = 0.488, Nitrogen oxides: P = 0.572, PM: P = 0.480, PM: P = 0.225, and PM: P = 0.608). There was no evidence of heterogeneity or pleiotropy, and sensitivity analyses based on the leave-one-out approach indicated that individual single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) did not affect the robustness of the results.This study found no substantial evidence to support a causal relationship between air pollution and the risk of SSNHL in the European population.
众多具有说服力的流行病学研究已将空气污染与突发性感音神经性听力损失（SSNHL）联系起来。然而，这种关联背后的因果关系尚未确立。我们采用两样本孟德尔随机化（MR）方法来研究空气污染（二氧化氮、氮氧化物、PM、PM和PM）与SSNHL之间的因果关系。在全基因组显著水平上，选择与空气污染和SSNHL相关的独立基因变异作为工具变量（IVs）。所有汇总数据均从全基因组关联研究（GWAS）数据库中获取。用于MR分析的主要方法是逆方差加权（IVW）方法，并辅以各种MR分析方法，包括加权中位数、简单模式、加权模式和MR-Egger方法，以确保结果的稳健性。采用 Cochr an's Q检验进行异质性评估。为了识别潜在的多效性，我们使用了MR-Egger回归和MR-PRESSO全局检验。此外，还采用留一法进行敏感性分析。使用IVW方法的MR分析没有显示出实质性证据支持空气污染与SSNHL风险之间存在直接因果关系（二氧化氮：P = 0.488，氮氧化物：P = 0.572，PM：P = 0.480，PM：P = 0.225，PM：P = 0.608）。没有异质性或多效性的证据，基于留一法的敏感性分析表明，单个单核苷酸多态性（SNP）不会影响结果的稳健性。本研究没有发现实质性证据支持欧洲人群中空气污染与SSNHL风险之间存在因果关系。
