Exploring the causal relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and cervical spondylosis based on the Mendelian randomization method

Currently, an association between Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection and cervical spondylosis has been found in clinical practice. However, it is unclear whether there is a causal relationship between the two. To reveal the causal relationship between Hp infection and cervical spondylosis, we performed a two-sample two-way Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. This study was based on a two-sample Mendelian randomized design with a genome-wide association study of Hp infection and cervical spondylosis, systematically screened for genetic instrumental variables (IV), applied inverse-variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger regression and weighted median estimator (WME), simple mode (SM), weighted mode (WM) to assess the pathogenic association between the 2 diseases, and sensitivity analyses were used to further validate the robustness of the results. The results of forward MR analysis with Hp infection as the exposure were (OR [95% CI] = 1.110 [0.970–1.271], P = .166), and the results of reverse MR analysis with cervical spondylosis as the exposure were (OR [95% CI] = 0.226 [0.023–2.161], P = .253). The results showed no significant association between Hp infection and cervical spondylosis at the gene level ( P >.05). Sensitivity analyses were consistent with the results of the main analysis, confirming the robustness of the study. This study confirms that there is no causal relationship genetically between Hp infection and cervical spondylosis.