The causal effects of age at menarche and age at menopause on sepsis: A two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis

Objectives To determine whether the age at menarche (AAM) and the age at menopause (ANM) are causally related to the development of sepsis. Methods We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis by utilizing summary statistics from genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets for both the exposure and outcome variables. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that exhibited significant associations with AAM and ANM were chosen as instrumental variables to estimate the causal effects on sepsis. Our study employed a variety of methods, including MR-Egger regression, weighted median estimation, inverse variance weighting, a simple model, and a weighted model. Odds ratios (ORs) along with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used as the primary indicators for assessing causality. Furthermore, we conducted sensitivity analyses to explore the presence of genetic heterogeneity and validate the robustness of the tools employed. Result Our analysis revealed a significant negative causal relationship between AAM and the risk of sepsis (IVW: OR = 0.870, 95% CI = 0.793–0.955, P = 0.003). However, our Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis did not yield sufficient evidence to support a causal link between ANM and sepsis (IVW: OR = 0.987, 95% CI = 0.971–1.004, P = 0.129). Conclusions Our findings suggest that an earlier AAM may be associated with an increased risk of sepsis. However, we did not find sufficient evidence to support a causal relationship between ANM and sepsis.