A causal relationship between chronic pancreatitis and cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Current research suggests a link between chronic pancreatitis (CP) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), although the causality remains unclear. The aim of this study was therefore to conduct a 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to determine whether a causal relationship exists between CP and CVD. Summary-level data from publicly available genome-wide association studies of European populations were utilized for the MR analysis. Following quality control measures, independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with CP and CVD were chosen as the genetic instruments. Four complementary MR methods were performed, namely the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, weighted median, MR-Egger, and leave-one-out sensitivity. The IVW method revealed correlations between alcohol-induced CP and myocardial infarction (odds ratio [OR] = 1.001, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.000–1.002, P = .0010), as well as with large artery atherosclerosis stroke (OR = 1.067, 95% CI: 1.030–1.105, P = .0003). The IVW method also suggested that CP was significantly associated with stroke (OR = 1.040, 95% CI: 1.015–1.065, P = .0015) and with ischemic stroke (OR = 1.041, 95% CI: 1.005–1.078, P = .0024). These results remained robust and consistent in the sensitivity analysis. This MR study indicates a significant causal relationship between alcohol-induced CP and elevated risks of myocardial infarction and large artery atherosclerosis stroke, and a causal link between CP and stroke as well as ischemic stroke.