Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Peer-reviewed

Mendelian randomisation for mediation analysis: current methods and challenges for implementation

Alice R Carter, Eleanor Sanderson, Gemma Hammerton, Rebecca C. Richmond, George Davey Smith, Jon Heron, Amy E. Taylor, Neil M Davies, Laura D Howe

European Journal of Epidemiology · 2021

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Summary

Mediation analysis seeks to explain the pathway(s) through which an exposure affects an outcome. Traditional, non-instrumental variable methods for mediation analysis experience a number of methodological difficulties, including bias due to confounding between an exposure, mediator and outcome and measurement error. Mendelian randomisation (MR) can be used to improve causal inference for mediation analysis. We describe two approaches that can be used for estimating mediation analysis with MR: multivariable MR (MVMR) and two-step MR. We outline the approaches and provide code to demonstrate how they can be used in mediation analysis. We review issues that can affect analyses, including confounding, measurement error, weak instrument bias, interactions between exposures and mediators and ana

Source type
Peer-reviewed study
DOI
10.1007/s10654-021-00757-1
Catalogue ID
BFmoef2ocf-x775a0
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