ArticlePloS one2024
Vitamin D and thyroid function: A mendelian randomization study.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Autoimmune thyroid disease and human health: a systematic review of Mendelian randomization studies.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Pooled it
- Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and thyroid hormone profiles in Graves' disease: a retrospective cross-sectional stratified analysis.Nuclear medicine communications · 2026Article
- Causal Relationship Between Vitamin D and Anxiety and Depression: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2026Article
- Risk of Functional Disorders and/or Thyroid Autoimmunity and Its Association with 25OH Vitamin D and Magnesium Levels: A Population-Based Case-Control Study.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Vitamin D Deficiency and Its Role in Pathologies of Oxidative Stress: A Literature Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Decreased vitamin D increase the risk for subclinical hypothyroidism in individuals with T2DM: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Vitamin D deficiency in Hashimoto's thyroiditis: mechanisms, immune modulation, and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Recent advances of trace elements in autoimmune thyroid disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Gut microbiota in hypothyroidism: pathogenic mechanisms and opportunities for precision microbiome interventions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Autoimmune Thyroid Disease and Pregnancy: The Interaction Between Genetics, Epigenetics and Environmental Factors.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNumerous organs, including the thyroid gland, depend on vitamin D to function normally. Insufficient levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] are seen as a potential factor contributing to the emergence of several thyroid disorders, however, the causal relationship remains unclear. Here we use a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to investigate the causal effect of serum 25(OH)D concentration on the indicators of thyroid function.
methodsWe conducted a two-sample MR analysis utilizing summary data from the most extensive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of serum 25(OH)D concentration (n = 443,734 and 417,580), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH, n = 271,040), free thyroxine (fT4, n = 119,120), free triiodothyronine (fT3, n = 59,061), total triiodothyronine (TT3, n = 15,829), as well as thyroid peroxidase antibody levels and positivity (TPOAb, n = 12,353 and n = 18,297), low TSH (n = 153,241), high TSH (n = 141,549), autoimmune hypothyroidism (n = 287,247) and autoimmune hyperthyroidism (n = 257,552). The primary analysis was conducted using the multiplicative random-effects inverse variance weighted (IVW) method. The weighted mode, weighted median, MR-Egger, MR-PRESSO, and Causal Analysis Using Summary Effect estimates (CAUSE) were used in the sensitivity analysis.
resultsThe IVW, as well as MR Egger and CAUSE analysis, showed a suggestive causal effect of 25(OH)D concentration on high TSH. Each 1 SD increase in serum 25(OH)D concentration was associated with a 12% decrease in the risk of high TSH (p = 0.02). Additionally, in the MR Egger and CAUSE analysis, we found a suggestive causal effect of 25(OH)D concentration on autoimmune hypothyroidism. Specifically, each 1 SD increase in serum 25(OH)D concentration was associated with a 16.34% decrease in the risk of autoimmune hypothyroidism (p = 0.02).
conclusionsOur results support a suggestive causal effect which was negative in direction across all methods used, meaning that higher genetically predicted vitamin D concentration possibly lowers the odds of having high TSH or autoimmune hypothyroidism. Other thyroid parameters were not causally influenced by vitamin D serum concentration.
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