Key result
Genetically determined higher household income was causally associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease (OR 0.78; 95% CI 0.69-0.89; P<0.001).
Why the study?
Socioeconomic status is associated with Alzheimer's disease prevalence, but whether income has a causal protective effect remains unclear.
Does genetically determined higher household income reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease?
Observational (n=455,258)
Does genetically determined higher household income reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease?
Odds Ratio: 0.78 (95% CI 0.69–0.89)
p-value: p=<0.001
Genetically determined higher household income is causally associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting socioeconomic status plays a causal role in disease development.
Supports exploring socioeconomic interventions for Alzheimer's prevention; extends causal genetic evidence but leaves clinical translation open.
BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic status (SES) is considered to be associated with the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the causal association remain unclear. Here, we determining whether income has a causal protective effect on the risk of developing AD using Mendelian randomization (MR). METHODS: ) from the UK Biobank (UKB) (n=286,301) were selected as instrumental variables for this study. Confounding instruments were removed through data set browsing. Selected SNPs were then harmonized with results from an AD genome-wide meta-analysis (71,880 cases, 383,378 controls) including both case-control and proxy cases. The analysis was conducted using MR methods, and multiple sensitivity analyses were applied for testing of potential bias. RESULTS: After confounding instrument removal and clumping, 9 SNPs associated with household income level identified by the UKB were left for the MR analysis. Our results demonstrated that higher household income level was causally related with a lower risk of AD (odds ratio 0.78, 95% confidence interval: 0.69-0.89; P<0.001). Multiple sensitivity analyses suggested no obvious evidence for heterogeneity or pleiotropy of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Under MR assumptions, our results suggest robust evidence of a causal association between household income and AD risk, which may provide potential prevention strategies for this devastating disease.
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Wang et al. (2021) conducted an observational in Alzheimer's disease (n=455,258). Genetically determined higher household income vs. Lower household income was evaluated on Risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.69-0.89, p=<0.001). Genetically determined higher household income was causally associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease (OR 0.78; 95% CI 0.69-0.89; P<0.001).
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