Research supports causal link between atopic dermatitis, keratoconus
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Key takeaways:
- Atopic dermatitis was significantly and positively associated with keratoconus.
- Reverse Mendelian randomization analysis did not suggest a causal relationship of keratoconus on atopic dermatitis.
Atopic dermatitis appears to have a significant yet unidirectional causal effect on the risk for keratoconus, according to a study published in Translational Vision Science & Technology.
“Although many studies have indicated that atopic dermatitis (AD) could contribute to the risk of keratoconus (KC), the causality between AD and KC remains controversial,” researchers in the department of ophthalmology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital wrote. “This study aimed to explore the potential causal associations between AD and KC.”
To do this, they performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis using instrumental variables extracted from genome-wide association study summary datasets. The researchers included 796,661 individuals, of whom 22,474 were of European descent from the FinnGen study, Estonian Biobank and UK Biobank, and selected 22 single nucleotide polymorphisms as variables for AD against KC.
Primary analysis using an inverse-variance weighted method model found that AD was significantly and positively associated with KC. This finding persisted using the weighted median method but not weighted mode, simple mode or MR-Egger methods. However, all sensitivity analysis methods suggested a positive causal relationship between AD and KC.
Conversely, a reverse mendelian randomization analysis did not suggest a causal relationship of KC on AD, indicating unilateral rather than bidirectional association.
“We recommend that individuals with AD undergo regular ophthalmic examinations, such as corneal thickness and corneal topography, to detect any early signs of KC,” the researchers wrote. “Especially for young patients, receiving ophthalmic examinations and treatment upon the diagnosis of AD can help to prevent permanent ocular damage threatening vision.”
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