Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37537942›Full record

SynthesisAnnals of human genetics2023

Reassessing the association of MUC5B with survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Siyang Cai, Richard J Allen, Louise V Wain, Frank Dudbridge

Open access · hybridAbstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Annals of human genetics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.9field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Age-dependent Genetic Risk in Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients and Relatives.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Observational
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Siyang CaiDepartment of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Richard J AllenDepartment of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Louise V WainDepartment of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Frank DudbridgeDepartment of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8817-8908
University of Leicester · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/S037055/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A variant in the mucin 5B gene (MUC5B) is strongly associated with the risk of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, the same variant is associated with increased survival time. Previous work suggested that this may be explained by index event bias, with the true effect being to decrease survival. Here, we reassessed this claim using more recent methods and datasets. We found that the statistical assumptions of the previous analysis did not hold, and instead, we applied recent methods of corrected weighted least squares, MR-RAPS and Slope-hunter to both the previous data and an updated consortium meta-analysis. However, these analyses did not yield robust evidence for increased or decreased survival. In simulations of a true effect of decreased survival, we did not observe any realistic scenario in which index event bias led to an observed effect of increased survival. We therefore regard as unsafe the claim that MUC5B has a true effect of decreased survival. Alternative explanations should be sought to explain the observed association with increased survival.

Indexed as

Idiopathic Pulmonary FibrosisMucin-5BGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseHumansMUC5B protein, humanMucin-5Bcase-only studyindex event biasinstrumental variablemendelian randomisationselection bias

Identifiers

PMID37537942
PMCPMC10952500
OpenAlexW4385564604

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.