ArticlePloS one2019
Robust methods in Mendelian randomization via penalization of heterogeneous causal estimates.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 122 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
122 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 189 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structured tools for assessing quality and risk of bias in Mendelian randomization studies: an updated systematic review.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Pooled it
- Genome-wide association meta-analysis of human olfactory identification discovers sex-specific and sex-differential genetic variants.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Genetic insights into resting heart rate and its role in cardiovascular disease.Nature communications · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Circulating Inflammatory Markers and Mammographic Density Phenotypes: a Mendelian Randomization Analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- A flexible framework for robust and efficient Mendelian randomization with debiasing.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Association of dietary patterns with the prevalence of rheumatic diseases among older Chinese adults: a national cross-sectional survey.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- The Sex-Stratified Effects of RSPO3 Expression on Body Fat and Blood Lipids: An Omics Mendelian Randomization Study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2026Article
- METEOR: a data-adaptive Mendelian randomization method for powerful detection of shared and specific exposures underlying multiple outcomes.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Reassessing Instrument Strength in Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Observational
- A multi-tissue mendelian randomization method based on eQTL data for mapping tissue-specific disease genes.BMC bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Article
- MRBEE-TL: improving causal effect estimation in multi-ancestry multivariable Mendelian randomization with transfer learning.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Different diabetes types and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a Mendelian randomization and pathway/gene-set analysis.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2026Article
- Assessment of mosaic loss of chromosome Y in pulmonary fibrosis reveals limited association with susceptibility or disease severity.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota, lipid metabolism, and PCOS: A Mendelian randomization and mediation analysis.Medicine · 2026Article
- Gallbladder disease and colorectal cancer: a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Genetic Perspective on the Relationship between Female Reproductive Traits, Exercise, and Bone Health Outcomes: Evidence from a National Database.Lifestyle genomics · 2026Article
62 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Methods have been developed for Mendelian randomization that can obtain consistent causal estimates under weaker assumptions than the standard instrumental variable assumptions. The median-based estimator and MR-Egger are examples of such methods. However, these methods can be sensitive to genetic variants with heterogeneous causal estimates. Such heterogeneity may arise from over-dispersion in the causal estimates, or specific variants with outlying causal estimates. In this paper, we develop three extensions to robust methods for Mendelian randomization with summarized data: 1) robust regression (MM-estimation); 2) penalized weights; and 3) Lasso penalization. Methods using these approaches are considered in two applied examples: one where there is evidence of over-dispersion in the causal estimates (the causal effect of body mass index on schizophrenia risk), and the other containing outliers (the causal effect of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol on Alzheimer's disease risk). Through an extensive simulation study, we demonstrate that robust regression applied to the inverse-variance weighted method with penalized weights is a worthwhile additional sensitivity analysis for Mendelian randomization to provide robustness to variants with outlying causal estimates. The results from the applied examples and simulation study highlight the importance of using methods that make different assumptions to assess the robustness of findings from Mendelian randomization investigations with multiple genetic variants.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.