Impact of lung function on cardiovascular diseases and cardiovascular risk factors: a two sample bidirectional Mendelian randomisation study

INTRODUCTION: Observational studies suggested lung function is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) although these studies could be confounded. We conducted a two sample Mendelian randomisation study using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to clarify the role of lung function in CVD and its risk factors, and conversely the role of CVD in lung function. METHODS: : 260) and forced vital capacity (FVC: 320) from publicly available UK Biobank summary statistics (n=421 986) and applied to GWAS summary statistics for coronary artery disease (CAD) (n=184 305), stroke (n=446 696), atrial fibrillation (n=1 030 836) and heart failure (n=977 320) and cardiovascular risk factors. Inverse variance weighting was used to assess the impact of lung function on these outcomes, with various sensitivity analyses. Bidirectional Mendelian randomisation was used to assess reverse causation. RESULTS: 0.95 (0.75 to 1.19), but not for stroke or type 2 diabetes. There was no strong evidence for reverse causation. CONCLUSION: Higher lung function likely protect against CAD and stroke.