Causal effects of Atorvastatin on the improvement of erectile dysfunction:A two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Background and aim: There are currently no clear conclusions about whether Atorvastatin can improve ED.In the study, we found the causal relationship between atorvastatin use and the improvement of erectile dysfunction by using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with atorvastatin use and erectile dysfunction were selected from the MRC IEU Open Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) project.After standardized selection, the remaining SNPs were used as Instrumental variables estimation (IVs) of atorvastatin use for the following MR tests to evaluate the relationship between atorvastatin use predicted by genetics and the improvement of ED. In the study, the random-effect inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was selected as the primary analysis. At the end of the study, Cochran's Q test,MR-Egger regression, funnel plots，Leave-one-out method and MR-pleiotropic residual sum and outlier were used for sensitivity analysis. Results: Genetically predicted atorvastatin use was strongly associated with improvement in ED in the IVW analyses(OR = 23.91, 95% CI 1.57–364.25; p = 0.022). No evidence of pleiotropy, heterogeneity, or outlier single-nucleotide polymorphisms was found in the sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: The results of this study found a causal relationship between atorvastatin use and the improvement of ED, providing evidence for clinical diagnosis and treatment.