No Causal Effect Of Smoking In Chronic Kidney Disease Risk : Study Finds

A recent study published in Health Data Science shed light on the complex relationship between smoking behavior and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The researchers concluded that their analysis does not suggest a causal effect of smoking on chronic kidney disease. Using data from over 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank cohort, the researchers conducted both traditional observational studies and advanced Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to explore whether smoking behavior directly contributes to chronic kidney disease.

While observational studies indicated a positive association between smoking status and the risk of chronic kidney disease, the Mendelian randomization analysis revealed no evidence of a causal relationship. Specifically, genetic variants associated with smoking behavior did not show a direct causal effect on chronic kidney disease development.

These findings suggest that the previously observed associations in observational studies might be influenced by confounding factors rather than a direct causal link. Researchers propose that factors such as diabetes and hypertension may act as mediators in the relationship between smoking and chronic kidney disease .

“Our results emphasize the need for more detailed mediation analyses on large-scale, multi-ethnic datasets to fully understand the interplay between smoking and chronic kidney disease,” said Professor Luxia Zhang. “While smoking remains a significant health risk factor, its direct role in chronic kidney disease development requires further investigation.”

Reference: Zhilong Zhang, Feifei Zhang, Xiaomeng Zhang, Lanlan Lu, Luxia Zhang. Association of Smoking with Chronic Kidney Disease Stages 3 to 5: A Mendelian Randomization Study. Health Data Sci. 2024;4:0199.DOI:10.34133/hds.0199