ArticleNature communications2025
No causal links between estradiol and female's brain and mental health using Mendelian randomization.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Causal effects of reproductive traits on cognitive function: A two-sample and multivariable mendelian randomization study.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2026Article
- The association between age at menarche and subsequent risk of chronic pain.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Review
- No causal links between estradiol and female's brain and mental health using Mendelian randomization.Nature communications · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The role of estradiol in depression and Alzheimer's disease - brain disorders that disproportionately affect females - is debated. Results from observational studies are inconsistent and limited by confounding and reverse causation. To overcome these limitations, we perform two-sample Mendelian randomization. We run genome-wide association studies on sex-specific brain age gap, a proxy of brain health, and female-specific estradiol levels using data from the UK Biobank. We test for causal links between genetically-predicted factors related to estradiol exposure (estradiol levels in pre- and postmenopausal samples, reproductive span, age at menarche, age at menopause, number of childbirths) and brain age gap, Alzheimer's disease and depression as outcomes. We replicate our analyses on estradiol levels in males. Here, we find no significant associations between estradiol exposure and brain health across samples and robust methods, indicating an absence of constant causal effects and suggesting that hormonal fluctuations may drive links between estradiol and brain health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
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.