AUTHOR=Sun Hengchang , Shen Gang , Dong Huimin , Shang Mei , Zhou Wenying , Wang Lingling , Li Zhaoxia , Gong Jiao , Hu Bo 

TITLE=Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and erectile dysfunction: a causal relationship? Findings from a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2024.1390814

DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2024.1390814

ISSN=2296-889X

ABSTRACT=Background: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is associated with erectile dysfunction (ED) in observational studies. But whether there is a causal association between them remains uncertain. Objectives：Conducting a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal effect between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and erectile dysfunction (ED) risk. Method: GWAS data of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level comprising 6,896,093 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), from 496,949 European ancestries was regarded as exposure for the MR analysis. And another GWAS data involving 9,310,196 SNPs of 6175 European ED cases and 217630 control was used as outcome data. The MR-Egger, inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode were employed to evaluate causal effects, among which IVW was the primary MR analysis method. The stability of the MR analysis results was confirmed by heterogeneity test, horizontal pleiotropy test, and leave-one-out method. Result: There were altogether 103 SNPs utilized as instrumental variables (P<5×10 -8 ). The results of MR analysis showed no causal effects of serum 25(OH) D concentration on ED risks (IVW; OR=0.9516, 95% CI=0.7994 to 1.1328, p = 0.5772). There was no heterogeneity and pleiotropy in statistical models. Conclusion：The present MR study didn't support a causal association for genetically predicted serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration in the risk of ED in individuals of European descent.