Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37662902›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in immunology2023

Mendelian randomization to evaluate the causal relationship between liver enzymes and the risk of six specific bone and joint-related diseases.

Guiwu Huang, Wenchang Li, Yonglie Zhong, Weiming Liao, Zhiqi Zhang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

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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

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Bone loss in patients with spinal cord injury: Incidence and influencing factors.Chinese journal of traumatology = Zhonghua chuang shang za zhi · 2025
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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

5 authors.

Guiwu HuangDepartment of Joint Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Wenchang LiDepartment of Joint Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Yonglie ZhongZhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Weiming LiaoDepartment of Joint Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Zhiqi ZhangDepartment of Joint Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Studies of liver dysfunction in relation to bone and joint-related diseases are scarce, and its causality remains unclear. Our objective was to investigate whether serum liver enzymes are causally associated with bone and joint-related diseases using Mendelian randomization (MR) designs. Methods: Genetic data on serum liver enzymes (alkaline phosphatase (ALP); alanine transaminase (ALT); gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT)) and six common bone and joint-related diseases (rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoporosis, osteoarthritis (OA), ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and gout) were derived from independent genome-wide association studies of European ancestry. The inverse variance-weighted (IVW) method was applied for the main causal estimate. Complementary sensitivity analyses and reverse causal analyses were utilized to confirm the robustness of the results. Results: Using the IVW method, the positive causality between ALP and the risk of osteoporosis diagnosed by bone mineral density (BMD) at different sites was indicated (femoral neck, lumbar spine, and total body BMD, odds ratio (OR) [95% CI], 0.40 [0.23-0.69], 0.35 [0.19-0.67], and 0.33 [0.22-0.51], respectively). ALP was also linked to a higher risk of RA (OR [95% CI], 6.26 [1.69-23.51]). Evidence of potential harmful effects of higher levels of ALT on the risk of hip and knee OA was acquired (OR [95% CI], 2.48 [1.39-4.41] and 3.07 [1.49-6.30], respectively). No causal relationship was observed between GGT and these bone and joint-related diseases. The study also found that BMD were all negatively linked to ALP levels (OR [95% CI] for TBMD, FN-BMD, and LS-BMD: 0.993 [0.991-0.995], 0.993 [0.988-0.998], and 0.993 [0.989, 0.998], respectively) in the reverse causal analysis. The results were replicated via sensitivity analysis in the validation process. Conclusions: Our study revealed a significant association between liver function and bone and joint-related diseases.

Indexed as

Arthritis, RheumatoidOsteoarthritis, KneeOsteoporosisAlanine TransaminaseAlkaline PhosphataseColoring Agentsgamma-GlutamyltransferaseGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansLiverMendelian Randomization AnalysisAlanine TransaminaseAlkaline PhosphataseColoring Agentsgamma-Glutamyltransferasebone and joint-related diseasescausalitygenome-wide association studiesliver enzymeMendelian randomization

Identifiers

PMID37662902
PMCPMC10469508

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.