A causal relationship study between frailty syndrome and osteoarthritis using two-sample Mendelian randomization

FU Wanli; ZHANG Tian; LUO Yangtian; LI Minghao

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Medical Journal of the Chinese People Armed Police Forces ›› 2025, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (7) : 553-557.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

A causal relationship study between frailty syndrome and osteoarthritis using two-sample Mendelian randomization

FU Wanli, ZHANG Tian, LUO Yangtian, LI Minghao

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Abstract

Objective To analyze the causal relationship between frailty syndrome and osteoarthritis. Methods From the aggregated data of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) published in 2021, tool variables closely related to frailty syndrome were obtained and screened. GWAS data for osteoarthritis and knee osteoarthritis from the Finnish database were selected. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was used to evaluate the association between frailty syndrome and osteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis, and to conduct sensitivity analysis. Results A total of 24 SNPs were identified as significantly associated with frailty syndrome, 16 SNPs as significantly associated with osteoarthritis, and 16 SNPs as significantly associated with knee osteoarthritis. When frailty syndrome was the exposure and osteoarthritis was the outcome variable, the IVW method and the Weighted median method both showed that frailty syndrome was associated with an increased risk of osteoarthritis (P < 0.05), and sensitivity analysis showed heterogeneity (P < 0.05), but no horizontal pleiotropy; when frailty syndrome was the exposure and knee osteoarthritis was the outcome variable, the IVW method and the Weighted median method both showed that frailty syndrome was associated with an increased risk of knee osteoarthritis (P < 0.05), and sensitivity analysis showed heterogeneity (P < 0.05), but no horizontal pleiotropy. Conclusions Frailty syndrome can increase the risk of patients developing osteoarthritis.

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frailty syndrome / osteoarthritis / causal relationship / Mendelian randomization

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FU Wanli, ZHANG Tian, LUO Yangtian, LI Minghao. A causal relationship study between frailty syndrome and osteoarthritis using two-sample Mendelian randomization[J]. Medical Journal of the Chinese People Armed Police Forces. 2025, 36(7): 553-557

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