Circulating Vitamin D Levels and the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Front Nutr. 2022 Mar 28:9:837207. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.837207. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Aim: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate the association between serum vitamin D levels and atrial fibrillation (AF) risks.

Methods: Data on the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to vitamin D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and AF outcome were obtained from a UK Biobank study, SUNLIGHT consortium, and the latest meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies GWASs with six independent cohorts, respectively. MR analysis was performed to obtain the estimates, followed by the use of inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, weighted median method, maximum likelihood, MR-egger method, and MR-PRESSO methods.

Results: The IVW estimate showed that genetically predicted vitamin D and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were not causally associated with the risk of AF with two models. The association was consistent in complementary analyses.

Conclusions: Our MR finding suggested that no genetic evidence of serum vitamin D levels was significantly associated with AF risk. Further researches are necessary to explore the potential role and mechanisms of circulating serum vitamin D levels on AF.

Keywords: 25-hydroxyvitamin D; Mendelian randomization; atrial fibrillation; cause-effect; vitamin D.