Association of alcohol consumption with allergic disease and asthma: a multi-centre Mendelian randomization analysis.

Abstract

AIMS:

To use the rs1229984 variant associated with alcohol consumption as an instrument for alcohol consumption to test the causality of the association of alcohol consumption with hay fever, asthma, allergic sensitization and serum total immunoglobulin (Ig)E.

DESIGN:

Observational and Mendelian randomization analyses using genetic variants as unbiased markers of exposure to estimate causal effects, subject to certain assumptions.

SETTING:

Europe.

PARTICIPANTS:

We included a total of 466 434 people aged 15-82 years from 17 population-based studies conducted from 1997 to 2015.

MEASUREMENTS:

The rs1229984 (ADH1B) was genotyped; alcohol consumption, hay fever and asthma were self-reported. Specific and total IgE were measured from serum samples.

FINDINGS:

Observational analyses showed that ever-drinking versus non-drinking, but not amount of alcohol intake, was positively associated with hay fever and inversely associated with asthma but not with allergic sensitization or serum total immunoglobulin (Ig)E. However, Mendelian randomization analyses did not suggest that the observational associations are causal. The causal odds ratio (OR) per genetically assessed unit of alcohol/week was an OR = 0.907 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.806, 1.019; P = 0.101] for hay fever, an OR = 0.897 (95% CI = 0.790, 1.019; P = 0.095) for asthma, an OR = 0.971 (95% CI =  0.804, 1.174; P = 0.763) for allergic sensitization and a 4.7% change (95% CI = -5.5%, 14.9%; P = 0.366) for total IgE.

CONCLUSIONS:

In observational analyses, ever-drinking versus not drinking was positively associated with hay fever and negatively associated with asthma. However, the Mendelian randomization results were not consistent with these associations being causal.

• Authors: Tea Skaaby, Tuomas O Kilpeläinen, Amy E Taylor, Yuvaraj Mahendran, Andrew Wong, Tarunveer S Ahluwalia, Lavinia Paternoster, Stella Trompet, David J Stott, Claudia Flexeder, Ang Zhou, Guy Brusselle, Ayesha Sajjad, Lies Lahousse, Henning Tiemeier, Christian Theil Have, Betina H Thuesen, Line Lund Kårhus, Line Tang Møllehave, Katja Biering Leth-Møller, Daniel Mønsted Shabanzadeh, Arturo Gonzalez-Quintela, Chris Power, Elina Hyppönen, Diana Kuh, Rebecca Hardy, Thomas Meitinger, J Wouter Jukema, Uwe Völker, Matthias Nauck, Henry Völzke, Nele Friedrich, Tobias N Bonten, Raymond Noordam, Dennis O Mook-Kanamori, Janne S Tolstrup, Christian Taube, Annette Peters, Harald Grallert, Konstantin Strauch, Holger Schulz, Niels Grarup, Torben Hansen, Oluf Pedersen, Stephen Burgess, Marcus R Munafò, Allan Linneberg
• Journal: Addiction (Abingdon, England) (Addiction) Vol. 114 Issue 2 Pg. 216-225 (02 2019) ISSN: 1360-0443 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 30209858 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Multicenter Study, Observational Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2018 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Chemical References

• Immunoglobulin E
• ADH1B protein, human
• Alcohol Dehydrogenase

Topics

• Adolescent
• Aged, 80 and over
• Alcohol Dehydrogenase (genetics)
• Alcohol Drinking (adverse effects, epidemiology)
• Asthma (epidemiology, etiology)
• Denmark (epidemiology)
• Female
• Genotype
• Humans
• Hypersensitivity (epidemiology, etiology)
• Immunoglobulin E (metabolism)
• Male
• Mendelian Randomization Analysis
• Respiratory Function Tests
• Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal (epidemiology, etiology)
• Young Adult