IMR Press / CEOG / Volume 49 / Issue 9 / DOI: 10.31083/j.ceog4909199
Open Access Original Research
Assessment of Bidirectional Relationship between Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Depression: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study
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1 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, 100070 Beijing, China
2 Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 310006 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
3 Beijing Integrative Medicine on Encephalopathy Research Institution, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, 100070 Beijing, China
4 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 310051 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
*Correspondence: yongpingf@hotmail.com (Yongping Fan); syqufan@zju.edu.cn (Fan Qu)
Academic Editor: Michael H. Dahan
Clin. Exp. Obstet. Gynecol. 2022, 49(9), 199; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.ceog4909199
Submitted: 29 June 2022 | Revised: 12 August 2022 | Accepted: 13 August 2022 | Published: 31 August 2022
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.

This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Abstract

Background: Evidence from observation studies has implied an association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and risk of depression. Nevertheless, it remains elusive if the identified correlation is causal or owing to biases in observation researches. Hence, we utilized a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) method to evaluate the potential causal relationship between PCOS and depression. Methods: Genetic instruments for PCOS and depression were acquired from two large genome-wide association studies (GWASs). MR analyses were completed via the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method and weighted median approaches. The underlying pleiotropy was tested by MR-Egger regression, and leave-one-out method was used to evaluate the stability of MR results. Results: Using the IVW analyses (odds ratio (OR) = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01–1.06, p < 0.01) and weighted median approach (OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.00–1.08, p < 0.05), we found that PCOS was related to an elevated risk of depression. MR-Egger regression did not identify potential horizontal pleiotropy. Sensitivity analyses using leave-one-out method also provided supportive evidence. In the reverse MR analyses, we did not observe causal effect of depression on PCOS (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The present study provides evidence to support a potential causal association between PCOS and an elevated risk of depression. Hence, early psychological intervention for PCOS might show anti-depression benefits.

Keywords
causal association
polycystic ovary syndrome
depression
Mendelian randomization
Funding
82074476/National Natural Science Foundation of China
81874480/National Natural Science Foundation of China
Figures
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