Photo Credit: Ekaterina Chizhevskaya

The following is a summary of “Causal relationships between neuropsychiatric disorders and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study,” published in the September 2024 issue of Gastroenterology by Wang et al.

Increasing evidence suggested that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Nevertheless, whether there were causal associations between them remained vague.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate a causal association between neuropsychiatric disorders and NAFLD.

They assessed the published genome-wide association study summary statistics for NAFLD, 7 mental disorder-related diseases, and 6 central nervous system dysfunction-related diseases. The relationships were first evaluated using two-sample and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR). Sensitivity analyses were conducted, and a reverse MR analysis was subsequently performed to assess the possibility of reverse causality. Finally, replication analyses were performed, and the findings from the above studies were combined.

The results showed NAFLD notably increased the risk of disorders related to anxiety (OR = 1.016, 95% CI = 1.010–1.021, P<0.0001). Major depressive disorder was the risk factor for NAFLD (OR = 1.233, 95% CI = 1.063–1.430, P=0.006). Multivariable MR analysis showed that the causal effect of major depressive disorder on NAFLD remained significant after considering body mass index. Still, the association disappeared after adjusting for the impact of waist circumference. No causal relationship was found between other neuropsychiatric disorders and NAFLD.

Investigators concluded that NAFLD was causally related to anxiety disorders and Major Depressive Disorder.

Source: bmcgastroenterol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12876-024-03386-6