ArticleActa diabetologica2021
Educational attainment protects against type 2 diabetes independently of cognitive performance: a Mendelian randomization study.
Article in Acta diabetologica, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Causal effects of education attainment on oral and oropharyngeal cancer: New evidence from a meta-analysis and Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Genetically predicted education attainment in relation to somatic and mental health.Scientific reports · 2021Pooled it
- Examining causal relationships between educational attainment and type 2 diabetes using genetic analysis: findings from the EPIC-InterAct study through Mendelian randomisation.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Education Level and the Prevalence and Medical Behavior of Sleep-Disordered Breathing: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Article
- Phenome-wide investigation of bidirectional causal relationships between major depressive disorder and common human diseases.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- Association of depression with gastroesophageal reflux disease, and the mediating role of risk factors: a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Causal Associations between Functional/Structural Connectivity and Stroke: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Methods for large-scale single mediator hypothesis testing: Possible choices and comparisons.Genetic epidemiology · 2023Review
- Cognitive performance protects against Alzheimer's disease independently of educational attainment and intelligence.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Article
- Mediators of the association between educational attainment and type 2 diabetes mellitus: a two-step multivariable Mendelian randomisation study.Diabetologia · 2022Article
- Causal Associations Between Educational Attainment and 14 Urological and Reproductive Health Outcomes: A Mendelian Randomization Study.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Evaluating the Causal Association Between Educational Attainment and Asthma Using a Mendelian Randomization Design.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
aimsObservational studies have reported a negative association between educational attainment and type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the causality remains largely unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential causal effect of educational attainment on T2D and whether such an effect is independent of cognitive performance.
methodsWe conducted two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using genetic variants strongly associated with educational attainment and cognitive performance to estimate the causal associations with T2D, among 61,714 T2D cases and 593,952 controls. We also performed multivariable MR to explore the independent effects of educational attainment and cognitive performance on T2D risk.
resultsIn univariable MR, we found evidence that genetically predicted higher educational attainment [odds ratio (OR) 0.53 per 1-standard deviation (SD) increase; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.47-0.60] and cognitive performance (OR 0.79 per 1-SD increase; 95%CI 0.69-0.91) were related to decreased risk of T2D. Our further multivariable MR results suggested that more years of education led to a reduced likelihood of T2D independently of cognitive performance (OR 0.52; 95%CI 0.42-0.64). However, the protective effect of cognitive performance on T2D was attenuated once educational attainment was controlled for (OR 1.08; 95%CI 0.88-1.32).
conclusionsWe provided evidence to suggest that educational attainment protects against T2D independently of cognitive performance, but does not support a negative causal association between cognitive performance and T2D independently of educational attainment. Education might represent a potential target for intervention to battle type 2 diabetes risk.
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