Epidemiol Health.  2019;41:e2019034. 10.4178/epih.e2019034.

Bilirubin and risk of ischemic heart disease in Korea: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

• Jeon C
• Lee JY
• Lee SJ
• Jung KJ
• Kimm H
• Jee SH

• KMID: 2469436
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2019034

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Bilirubin is an endogenous antioxidant that protects cells against oxidative stress. Increased plasma levels of bilirubin have been associated with a reduced risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in previous studies. Nonetheless, whether those associations reflect a true protective effect of bilirubin on IHD, rather than confounding or reverse causation, remains unknown. Therefore, we applied two-sample Mendelian randomization to evaluate the causal association between bilirubin levels and IHD risk in a Korean population.
METHODS
A total of 5 genetic variants"”TRPM8 (rs10490012), USP40 (rs12993249), ATG16L1 (rs2119503), SLCO1B1 (rs4149014), and SLCO1B3 (rs73233620)"”were selected as genetic instruments for serum bilirubin levels using a community-based cohort, the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study, comprising 33,598 subjects. We then evaluated their impact on IHD using the Korean Cancer Prevention Study-II cohort.
RESULTS
Among the 5 instrumental variables that showed significant associations with serum bilirubin levels, rs12993249 (USP40) showed the most significant association (p<2.36×10

Keyword

Bilirubin; Myocardial ischemia; Two-sample Mendelian randomization study; Korea

MeSH Terms

Bilirubin*
Cohort Studies
Epidemiology
Genome
Korea*
Myocardial Ischemia*
Oxidative Stress
Plasma
Random Allocation*
Bilirubin