Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41378179›Full record

ArticleJournal of multidisciplinary healthcare2025

From Mind to Liver: Exploring the Causal Relationship Between Anxiety Disorders and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Through Mendelian Randomization and UK Biobank Validation.

Hui Song, Xiaowu Dong, Qinghui Niu, Qian Yu, Xiangjia Zhu, Hong Zhao, Chang Li, Guotao Lu, Xin Liu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Hui Song *Tumor Immunology and Cytotherapy of Medical Research Center, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Research for Pancreatic Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266000, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0006-8820-3057
Xiaowu Dong *Pancreatic Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Yangzhou Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Disease, The Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225000, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0002-5717-5384
Qinghui NiuDepartment of Liver Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266000, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0005-8158-7484
Qian YuTumor Immunology and Cytotherapy of Medical Research Center, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Research for Pancreatic Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266000, People's Republic of China.
Xiangjia ZhuDepartment of Ophthalmology, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0001-6131-9582
Hong ZhaoDepartment of Gastroenterology, Qingdao Central Hospital, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, 266000, People's Republic of China.
Chang LiSchool of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 999077, Hong Kong.
Guotao LuPancreatic Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Yangzhou Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Disease, The Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225000, People's Republic of China.
Xin LiuDepartment of Gastroenterology, Zigong Fourth People's Hospital, Zigong, 643000, People's Republic of China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is highly prevalent and increasingly recognized as a multisystem condition with bidirectional links to the brain-liver axis. While most prior work emphasized "liver-to-brain" effects, whether anxiety disorders increase the risk of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease remains unclear. Methods: We employed Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data to investigate whether genetically predicted anxiety disorders play a causal role in NAFLD risk. We then validated our findings using a prospective cohort of 393,229 participants from the UK Biobank, with a median follow-up of 12.6 years. Results: Our MR analysis provides suggestive evidence for a potential causal effect of genetically predicted anxiety disorders on NAFLD (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-2.67, P = 0.013). This finding was further supported by the UK Biobank prospective study, which demonstrated that baseline anxiety was associated with increased incident NAFLD risk even after adjusting for potential confounding factors (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.630, 95% CI: 1.488-1.786, P < 0.001). Notably, participants with anxiety exhibited elevated liver fat content at follow-up magnetic resonance imaging, as assessed through follow-up magnetic resonance imaging, irrespective of gender (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study provides converging evidence from genetic and observational data suggesting that anxiety disorders may be associated with an increased risk of NAFLD onset. This relationship necessitates a reconsideration of both NAFLD management and pharmacotherapy for anxiety disorders, advocating for a shift from a specialized clinical focus to a comprehensive community-level strategy for addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Indexed as

anxietyliver-brain axisMendelian randomizationnonalcoholic fatty liver diseaseprospective studyUK Biobank

Identifiers

PMID41378179
PMCPMC12687622

What Socratic holds

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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.