ArticleThorax2025
Assessing causal relationships between diabetes mellitus and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a Mendelian randomisation study.
Article in Thorax, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Inter-Organ Communication in Pulmonary Fibrosis: Systemic Modifiers of a Lung-Centered Disease.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026Review
- Article
- Association of metformin with lung function decline and mortality in fibrotic interstitial lung disease: an observational cohort study.Respiratory research · 2026Observational
- Article
- Decoding the complexity: mechanistic insights into comorbidities in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.The European respiratory journal · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a disease of progressive lung scarring. There is a known association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and IPF, but it is unclear whether a causal relationship exists between these traits.
objectivesThe objectives of this study are to examine causal relationships among DM, diabetes-associated traits and IPF using a Mendelian randomisation approach.
methodsTwo-sample MR approaches, including bidirectional inverse-variance weighted random effects and routine sensitivity models, used genetic variants identified from genome-wide association studies for type 1 diabetes (T1D), type 2 diabetes (T2D), glycated haemoglobin level (HbA1c), fasting insulin level and body mass index (BMI) to assess for causal effects of these traits on IPF. Further analyses using pleiotropy-robust and multivariable MR (MVMR) methods were additionally performed to account for trait complexity.
resultsResults did not suggest that either T1D (OR=1.00, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.07, p=0.90) or T2D (1.02, 0.93 to 1.11, p=0.69) are in the causal pathway of IPF. No effects were suggested of HbA1c (1.19, 0.63 to 2.22, p=0.59) or fasting insulin level (0.60, 0.31 to 1.15, p=0.12) on IPF, but potential effects of BMI on IPF were indicated (1.44, 1.12 to 1.85, p=4.00×10
conclusionsThis study suggests that DM and IPF are unlikely to be causally linked. This comorbid relationship may instead be driven by shared risk factors or treatment effects.
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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.