Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35254260›Full record

ArticleeLife2022

Mendelian randomization suggests a bidirectional, causal relationship between physical inactivity and adiposity.

Germán D Carrasquilla, Mario García-Ureña, Tove Fall, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Tuomas O Kilpeläinen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Correlates of physical activity among rural Australian cancer survivors: a cross-sectional study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
    Article
  10. A focusing framework for testing bi-directional causal effects in Mendelian randomization.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B, Statistical methodology · 2025
    Article
  11. Observational
  12. Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Germán D CarrasquillaNovo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-7147-9421
Mario García-UreñaNovo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-3376-9460
Tove FallMolecular Epidemiology, Department of Medical Sciences, and Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0003-2071-5866
Thorkild I A SørensenNovo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0003-4821-430X
Tuomas O KilpeläinenNovo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-8349-3028

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Physical inactivity and increased sedentary time are associated with excess weight gain in observational studies. However, some longitudinal studies indicate reverse causality where weight gain leads to physical inactivity and increased sedentary time. As observational studies suffer from reverse causality, it is challenging to assess the true causal directions. Here, we assess the bidirectional causality between physical inactivity, sedentary time, and adiposity by bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis. We used results from genome-wide association studies for accelerometer-based physical activity and sedentary time in 91,105 individuals and for body mass index (BMI) in 806,834 individuals. We implemented Mendelian randomization using CAUSE method that accounts for pleiotropy and sample overlap using full genome-wide data. We also applied inverse variance-weighted, MR-Egger, weighted median, and weighted mode methods using genome-wide significant variants only. We found evidence of bidirectional causality between sedentary time and BMI: longer sedentary time was causal for higher BMI [beta (95% CI) from CAUSE method: 0.11 (0.02, 0.2), p = 0.02], and higher BMI was causal for longer sedentary time (0.13 (0.08, 0.17), p = 6.3 x 10

Indexed as

AdipositySedentary BehaviorBody Mass IndexGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansMendelian Randomization AnalysisPolymorphism, Single Nucleotidecardiometabolic risk factorscausalityepidemiologygeneticsgenomicsglobal healthhuman geneticsmendelian randomization analysisnoneobesityphysical activity

Identifiers

PMID35254260
PMCPMC8975550

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.