Mendelian Randomization Evidence for Sleep Apnea and Metabolic Traits

Mendelian randomization evidence from genome-wide association study data clarifies causal links between basal metabolic rate, adiposity, and obstructive sleep apnea. The dataset includes univariable, multivariable, and bidirectional analysis results, such as odds ratios and confidence intervals. It was authored by Mengjie Zhang and shared on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Assess causal effect of genetically predicted body mass index on obstructive sleep apnea risk using instrumental variable analysis.
• Perform multivariable Mendelian randomization to test if basal metabolic rate's association with sleep apnea is mediated by whole-body fat mass.
• Conduct reverse Mendelian randomization to evaluate if genetic liability to obstructive sleep apnea influences basal metabolic rate.
• Apply sensitivity analyses like MR-Egger and weighted median to test for pleiotropy in the genetic instrument-outcome relationships.

Strengths

• Analyses are based on genome-wide association study data from large-scale biobanks and meta-analyses.
• Includes extensive sensitivity analyses (MR-Egger, weighted median, MR-PRESSO, leave-one-out) to validate findings.
• Results provide specific odds ratios and confidence intervals for causal estimates, such as an OR of 2.27 per SD for body mass index.

Limitations

• The dataset is small (3.3 MB), containing summary statistics and figures rather than raw individual-level genetic data.
• Genetic instruments and outcome data are derived predominantly from European populations, limiting generalizability.
• Specific row counts for underlying genetic variant associations are not provided in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

Genetic instruments derived from UK Biobank genome-wide association study; obstructive sleep apnea outcome from a large meta-analysis genome-wide association study.

Collection Method

Two-sample Mendelian randomization performed using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies.

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Predominantly European populations.