ArticlePLoS genetics2022
Estimation of causal effects of a time-varying exposure at multiple time points through multivariable mendelian randomization.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 4 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
64 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Asthma increased the risk of atrial fibrillation: insights from clinical association to genetic and molecular evidence.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Lifecourse genome-wide association study meta-analysis refines the critical life stages for adiposity's influence on breast cancer risk.Science advances · 2026Pooled it
- Methodological approaches, challenges, and opportunities in the application of Mendelian randomisation to lifecourse epidemiology: A systematic literature review.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Separating the effects of early and later life adiposity on colorectal cancer risk: a Mendelian randomization study.BMC medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Early-life body mass index and adult fat distribution: a life-course Mendelian randomisation study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Genetically Informed Research Designs in Perinatal Pharmacoepidemiology: A Methodological Overview.Drug safety · 2026Review
- Association and risk prediction of 19 complex diseases with polygenic scores and socioeconomic status.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Causal inference in psychiatric research: how to critically evaluate and interpret mendelian randomization studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Challenges and future directions for Mendelian randomization.Nature genetics · 2026Review
- Can Psychiatric Genetics Advance Without Incorporating a Life Course Perspective?Biological psychiatry · 2026Review
- An evaluation of age-varying genetic effects underlying body-mass index and blood pressure in the UK Biobank.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Exploring the genetic link between type 2 diabetes and its complications and esophageal malignancy: A Mendelian randomization study.Medicine · 2026Article
- A structural mean modeling Mendelian randomization approach to investigate the lifecourse effect of adiposity: applied and methodological considerations.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Mendelian Randomization With Longitudinal Exposure Data: Simulation Study and Real Data Application.Statistics in medicine · 2026Article
- Mendelian Randomization Methods for Causal Inference: Estimands, Identification and Inference.Statistics in medicine · 2026Review
- Menopausal hormone therapy and risk of neuropsychiatric disease: a drug target Mendelian randomisation study.npj women's health · 2026Article
- HDL Cholesterol Levels and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: Protective Effects Revealed.Current cancer drug targets · 2026Article
- No causal links between estradiol and female's brain and mental health using Mendelian randomization.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Causal association of education, smoking, sedentary lifestyle and body mass index with disc degeneration: Mendelian randomization.Medicine · 2025Article
- Time-resolved Mendelian randomization detects substantial variation in the detrimental effect of obesity throughout life.Science advances · 2025Article
4 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
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mendelian Randomisation (MR) is a powerful tool in epidemiology that can be used to estimate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome in the presence of unobserved confounding, by utilising genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs) for the exposure. The effect estimates obtained from MR studies are often interpreted as the lifetime effect of the exposure in question. However, the causal effects of some exposures are thought to vary throughout an individual's lifetime with periods during which an exposure has a greater effect on a particular outcome. Multivariable MR (MVMR) is an extension of MR that allows for multiple, potentially highly related, exposures to be included in an MR estimation. MVMR estimates the direct effect of each exposure on the outcome conditional on all the other exposures included in the estimation. We explore the use of MVMR to estimate the direct effect of a single exposure at different time points in an individual's lifetime on an outcome. We use simulations to illustrate the interpretation of the results from such analyses and the key assumptions required. We show that causal effects at different time periods can be estimated through MVMR when the association between the genetic variants used as instruments and the exposure measured at those time periods varies. However, this estimation will not necessarily identify exact time periods over which an exposure has the most effect on the outcome. Prior knowledge regarding the biological basis of exposure trajectories can help interpretation. We illustrate the method through estimation of the causal effects of childhood and adult BMI on C-Reactive protein and smoking behaviour.
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.