The causal relationship between cheese intake and peripheral vascular disease: A two-sample mendelian randomization study

Abstract

Background Previous observational studies have yielded inconclusive findings regarding the potential association between cheese intake and peripheral vascular diseases (PVDs). We sought to systematically investigate the causal link between cheese intake and PVDs. Methods A two-sample mendelian randomization (MR) investigation was undertaken to evaluate the causal link between cheese intake and PVDs. This MR analysis relied on summary statistics derived from genome-wide associations of cheese intake (N=451,486) and an array of PVDs, including peripheral artery disease (PAD) (N=1,230 cases, 59,964 controls), peripheral vascular disease (PVD) (N=1,456 cases, 461,554 controls), peripheral angiopathy (N=193 cases, 162,201 controls), aortic dissection (N=470 cases, 218,322 controls), aortic aneurysm (AA) (N=2,825 cases, 215,967 controls), other peripheral vascular diseases (N=1,037 cases, 217,755 controls), pulmonary embolism (PE) (N=1,846 cases, 461,164 controls), deep vein thrombosis(N=6,795, not available cases/controls), and arterial embolism and thrombosis of lower extremity artery (N=471 cases, 218,321 controls). The primary outcome of the study utilized inverse variance weighted (IVW) MR analysis, with weighted median, MR Egger, and weighted mode methods serving as complementary analyses to IVW. Moreover, the results were robustly examined through a sensitivity analysis. Results Genetically predicted cheese intake was not associated with peripheral artery disease [odds ratio (OR) = 1.00, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00–1.00, P = 0.953], peripheral vascular disease (OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.99–1.00, P = 0.265), peripheral angiopathy (OR =0.56, 95% CI: 0.09–3.66, P = 0.566), aortic dissection(OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.19–2.55, P = 0.583), aortic aneurysm(OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.46–1.82, P = 0.809), other peripheral vascular diseases(OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.44–2.21, P = 0.979), pulmonary embolism(OR = 1.00, 95% CI:1.00–1.00, P = 0.635), deep vein thrombosis(OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.62–1.12, P = 0.229), and arterial embolism and thrombosis of lower extremity artery(OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.21–2.29, P = 0.5413). Conclusion Based on the results of our two-sample MR analysis, we found no significant association between cheese intake and the risk of PVDs, including peripheral artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, peripheral angiopathy, aortic dissection, aortic aneurysm, other peripheral vascular diseases, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, and arterial embolism and thrombosis of lower extremity artery.