Association between opioids use and risk of multiple cancers: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Previous observational studies have investigated the possible link between opiate use and the risk of cancer. Nevertheless, there is still no solid evidence linking opioids to any particular type of cancer. In the present study, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to elucidate the potential causal effects of opioid use on cancers risk. To find appropriate instrumental single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) linked to the exposure of interest, a stringent quality control procedure was first applied. We evaluated the association between opioids and cancers risk using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method,. Additionally, we conducted sensitivity analyses employing the simple mode, weighted mode, MR-Egger, weighted median and MR-PRESSO tests to complement our findings. Based on the results of IVW analysis, our study indicated a positive causal relationship between opioids and lung cancer (OR=1.001, 95% CI: 1.000-1.003, P=0.041), and kidney cancer (OR=1.002, 95% CI: 1.001-1.003, P=0.001). However, no causal relationship was found between opioids and other types of cancer (corrected P>0.05). This study sheds light on the potential association between opioid use and the risk of developing lung and kidney cancers. Nonetheless, it's worth noting that no statistically significant relationship between opioids use and various other types of cancer was identified.