Best (but oft-forgotten) practices: the design, analysis, and interpretation of Mendelian randomization studies

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 103; no. 4; pp. 965 - 978
• Main Authors: Haycock, Philip C, Burgess, Stephen, Wade, Kaitlin H, Bowden, Jack, Relton, Caroline, Davey Smith, George
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc 01.04.2016; American Society for Nutrition
• Subjects: Causality; Coronary Artery Disease - diagnosis; Coronary Artery Disease - genetics; cost effectiveness; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Databases, Genetic; disease prevention; Epidemiology; experimental design; Genetic Association Studies; genome-wide association study; Genotype; Genotype & phenotype; health policy; Humans; inheritance (genetics); Interleukin-6 - genetics; Interleukin-6 - metabolism; Intervention; Mendelian Randomization Analysis - methods; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Public health; Receptors, Interleukin-6 - genetics; Receptors, Interleukin-6 - metabolism; Reproducibility of Results; Research Design; Risk Factors; Statistical

Mendelian randomization (MR) is an increasingly important tool for appraising causality in observational epidemiology. The technique exploits the principle that genotypes are not generally susceptible to reverse causation bias and confounding, reflecting their fixed nature and Mendel’s first and sec...