ArticleScientific reports2021
The causal role of circulating vitamin D concentrations in human complex traits and diseases: a large-scale Mendelian randomization study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global Genetic Variation in Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D: A Systematic Review of GWAS Evidence Across Different Ancestral Groups.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Review of Mendelian randomization studies on common male-specific diseases.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Vitamin D and human health: evidence from Mendelian randomization studies.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review of Mendelian Randomization Studies.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Article
- Neonatal vitamin D levels and autoimmune disorders: a Danish population-based cohort study.European journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Genetic Polymorphisms of Vitamin D Receptor and Immune-Metabolic Mechanisms in Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: Narrative Review.Biology · 2026Review
- Vitamin D in Gut and Systemic Immune Tolerance and in Infections' Risk: An International Evidence-Based Consensus Statement.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Vitamin D and Health Outcomes: State-of-the-Art Review of Triangulated Evidence and Ongoing Controversies.Current nutrition reports · 2026Review
- Sex-specific impact of vitamin D and B9 concentrations on neuroticism: a polygenic score-based study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Does Vitamin D Supplementation Slow Brain Volume Loss in Multiple Sclerosis? A 4-Year Observational Study.Nutrients · 2025Observational
- Understanding the Genetic Architecture of Vitamin Status Biomarkers in the Genome-Wide Association Study Era: Biological Insights and Clinical Significance.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Review
- Associations of genetically predicted vitamin D status and deficiency with the risk of carotid artery plaque: a Mendelian randomization study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Selecting Invalid Instruments to Improve Mendelian Randomization with Two-Sample Summary Data.The annals of applied statistics · 2024Article
- Phenomewide Association Study of Health Outcomes Associated With the Genetic Correlates of 25 Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration and Vitamin D Binding Protein Concentration.Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies · 2024Article
- Diminished social motivation in early psychosis is associated with polygenic liability for low vitamin D.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- No evidence of a causal relationship between miscarriage and 25-hydroxyvitamin D: a Mendelian randomization study.Human reproduction open · 2024Article
- Health Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation: Lessons Learned From Randomized Controlled Trials and Mendelian Randomization Studies.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Vitamin D has been associated with a variety of human complex traits and diseases in observational studies, but a causal relationship remains unclear. To examine a putative causal effect of vitamin D across phenotypic domains and disease categories, we conducted Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses using genetic instruments associated with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. We leveraged genome-wide significant 25(OH)D-associated SNPs (N = 138) from a meta-analysis combining a vitamin D GWAS conducted in 401,460 white British UK Biobank (UKBB) participants and an independent vitamin D GWAS including 42,274 samples of European ancestry, and examined 190 large-scale health-related GWAS spanning a broad spectrum of complex traits, diseases and biomarkers. We applied multiple MR methods to estimate the causal effect of vitamin D while testing and controlling for potential biases from horizontal pleiotropy. Consistent with previous findings, genetically predicted increased 25(OH)D levels significantly decreased the risk of multiple sclerosis (OR = 0.824; 95% CI 0.689-0.986). The protective effect estimate was consistent across different MR methods and four different multiple sclerosis GWAS with varying sample sizes and genotyping platforms. On the contrary, we found limited evidence in support of a causal effect of 25(OH)D on anthropometric traits, obesity, cognitive function, sleep behavior, breast and prostate cancer, and autoimmune, cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and psychiatric traits and diseases, and blood biomarkers. Our results may inform ongoing and future randomized clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation.
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