Exploring the causal relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and common andrological diseases based on Mendelian randomization

Abstract

Abstract Objective: This study was designed to analyze the causal relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and common male diseases (male infertility, prostatic hyperplasia, prostatitis, erectile dysfunction, orchitis and epididymitis, sexual dysfunction and sperm cyst) using Mendelian randomization and to provide suggestions for clinical prevention and treatment. Methods and materials: A summary dataset of genome-wide association studies was used for the method study. Mendelian randomization was performed using inverse variance weighting, weighted median, and MR‒Egger regression analysis to assess the causal relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and common andrological diseases. Heterogeneity was tested using the Cochran Q method, pleiotropic properties were tested using the MR‒Egger and MR-PRESSO methods, and sensitivity was tested using the leave-one-out method. Results: The results showed that the risk of male infertility in patients with ankylosing spondylitis was 2.389 times that in patients Non-ankylosing spondylitis (OR=2.389, 95% CL: 1.334–4.278, P=0.034), and the risk of prostatic hyperplasia was correspondingly increased (OR=1.260, 95% CL: 1.057–1.501, P=0.009), without a significant causal relationship with other common male diseases. The results of the MR‒Egger analysis and the weighted median method were not significant. The results from the Cochran Q method showed no heterogeneity of the included SNPs. The results from the MR‒Egger and MR-PRESSO methods indicated that there was no horizontal pleiotropic effect between exposure and outcome variables. The results of the sensitivity analysis with the one-stay method were stable, and no strong impact of SNP sites in instrumental variables on the results was detected. Limitations: Additional research is imperative. Conclusion: There is a positive causal relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and male infertility, and benign prostate hyperplasia. Suffering from ankylosing spondylitis will increase the risk of male infertility and BPH.