PLoS One. 2024 Feb 29;19(2):e0297883. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297883. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The results of current studies on metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)-related diseases, cognition and dementia are inconsistent. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of MASLD-related diseases on cognition and dementia.

METHODS: By using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with different traits of NAFLD (chronically elevated serum alanine aminotransferase levels [cALT], imaging-accessed and biopsy-proven NAFLD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, we employed three methods of mendelian randomization (MR) analysis (inverse-variance weighted [IVW], weighted median, and MR-Egger) to determine the causal relationships between MASLD-related diseases and cognition and dementia. We used Cochran’s Q test to examine the heterogeneity, and MR-PRESSO was used to identify outliers (NbDistribution = 10000). The horizontal pleiotropy was evaluated using the MR-Egger intercept test. A leave-one-out analysis was used to assess the impact of individual SNP on the overall MR results. We also repeated the MR analysis after excluding SNPs associated with confounding factors.

RESULTS: The results of MR analysis suggested positive causal associations between MASLD confirmed by liver biopsy (p of IVW = 0.020, OR = 1.660, 95%CI = 1.082-2.546) and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis (p of IVW = 0.009, OR = 1.849, 95%CI = 1.169-2.922) with vascular dementia (VD). However, there was no evidence of a causal link between MASLD-related diseases and cognitive performance and other types of dementia (any dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia). Sensitivity tests supported the robustness of the results.

CONCLUSIONS: This two-sample MR analysis suggests that genetically predicted MASLD and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis may increase the VD risk. Nonetheless, the causal effects of NAFLD-related diseases on VD need more in-depth research.

PMID:38422093 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0297883