Causality between rheumatoid arthritis and the risk of cognitive impairment: a Mendelian randomization study

There is mounting proof that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cognitive decline are related. These studies, however, have not all been uniform, and others have not discovered such a correlation. It is essential to investigate the link between RA and cognitive decline.

We conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis utilizing three different publicly accessible RA GWAS summary datasets and a variety of meticulously verified instrumental variables. We mostly used inverse variance weighting (IVW), as well as MR-Egger, weighted median, MR-PRESSO, and several sensitivity analyses, to figure out the link between RA and cognitive impairment (CI).

Our MR study identified the causality between RA and declining cognitive performance (β = − 0.010, 95% CI of − 0.017 to − 0.003, P = 4.33E−03) and cognitive function (β = − 0.029, 95% CI of − 0.053 to − 0.005, P = 1.93E−02). The consistent direction of the connection is revealed by sensitivity analysis utilizing the weighted median and the MR-Egger method. Furthermore, we reproduced our findings across two additional RA datasets and found identical outcomes, strengthening the validity of our findings.

This study offers proof of causality between RA and an increased risk of CI. Our findings highlight the importance of examining RA patients for cognitive ability, which may open up fresh ideas for the prevention of CI.