SynthesisClinical rheumatology2023
Assessment of bidirectional relationships between depression and rheumatoid arthritis among adults: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.
Synthesis in Clinical rheumatology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Causal risk and protective factors for rheumatoid arthritis: a comprehensive mendelian randomization systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in genetics · 2026Pooled it
- The Depression Prevalence in Chinese Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2023Pooled it
- The evolving comorbidity landscape of rheumatoid arthritis.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- Article
- Psychiatric morbidity in people with autoimmune arthritides as a model of inflammatory mechanisms in mental disorders.BMJ mental health · 2025Article
- Trends in Anxiety and Depression Among Individuals With Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Population-Based Study.The Journal of rheumatology · 2025Article
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Viewpoint: Could better understanding of risk factors for comorbidities pave the way towards personalized therapy in rheumatoid arthritis?Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Does Having Rheumatoid Arthritis Increase the Dose of Depression Medications? A Mendelian Randomization Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIncreasing evidence shows that depression is associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the causality and direction of this association remain unclear, because links between the two diseases might be caused by shared environmental confounding factors. Our study aims to understand a putative causal link between the two diseases.
methodsWe retrieved summary statistics from meta-analyses of non-overlapping genome-wide association studies (GWASes) for depression (n = 807,553, 246,363 cases and 561,190 controls) and RA (n = 58,284, 14,361 cases and 42,923 controls). We combined Mendelian randomization (MR) estimates from each genetic instrument using inverse-variance weighted (IVW) meta-analysis, with alternate methods (e.g., simple median approach, weighted median approach, and MR-Egger regression) and conducted sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of MR analyses.
resultsWe found no evidence of causal relationships between depression and RA across all MR methods (IVW OR, 1.028 for RA; 95% CI, 0.821-1.287; P = 0.810) or vice versa (IVW OR, 0.999 for depression; 95% CI, 0.984-1.014; P = 0.932), indicating the links between the two diseases might be due to confounders.
conclusionDespite the results, to optimize treatment outcomes of RA patients, we still emphasize depression should be managed as part of routine clinical care to optimize treatment outcomes of RA.
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