Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Peer-reviewed

Mendelian Randomization: Concepts and Scope

Rebecca C. Richmond, George Davey Smith

Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine · 2021

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Summary

Mendelian randomization (MR) is a method of studying the causal effects of modifiable exposures (i.e., potential risk factors) on health, social, and economic outcomes using genetic variants associated with the specific exposures of interest. MR provides a more robust understanding of the influence of these exposures on outcomes because germline genetic variants are randomly inherited from parents to offspring and, as a result, should not be related to potential confounding factors that influence exposure-outcome associations. The genetic variant can therefore be used as a tool to link the proposed risk factor and outcome, and to estimate this effect with less confounding and bias than conventional epidemiological approaches. We describe the scope of MR, highlighting the range of applicati

Source type
Peer-reviewed study
DOI
10.1101/cshperspect.a040501
Catalogue ID
SNmohbb1j2-5hntnf
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