Maternal Abdominal Obesity and Hirschsprung's Disease in Offspring: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to explore the causal effect of pre-pregnancy waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (WHRadjBMI) on Hirschsprung's disease (HD) in offspring. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genome-wide association data for WHRadjBMI and HD were obtained from the Mendelian randomization (MR) base platform. Significant single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with WHRadjBMI in females were identified as instrumental variables. Bidirectional, two-sample MR analysis was then conducted to assess the causal relationship between female WHRadjBMI and HD, using three statistical methods: inverse-variance weighted analysis, weighted median estimator, and MR-Egger regression. A consistent positive association between WHRadjBMI in female and risk of HD in offspring was observed across methods (inverse-variance weighted: odds ratio [OR] 7.184, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.836-28.103; weighted median: OR 9.183, 95% CI 1.195-70.559; MR-Egger: OR 1.289, 95% CI 0.008-218.008), indicating a heightened HD risk in offspring with increased WHRadjBMI in females. However, no causal effect of genetic susceptibility to HD risk on WHRadjBMI in females was detected. CONCLUSIONS: MR analysis provides strong evidence that elevated pre-pregnancy WHRadjBMI in females may causally increase the risk of Hirschsprung's disease in offspring.