A Mendelian Randomization Study of the Association Between Loud Music Exposure Frequency and Anxiety Disorders in European Populations.

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether loud music is causally associated with anxiety disorder. Methods: Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted using inverse variance weighting (IVW), weighted median, MR-EGGER regression methods, simple mood and weighted mood. This study utilized publicly available pooled statistical datasets from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of loud music exposure in European populations as the exposure factor. Various subtypes of anxiety disorders were used as outcomes, with GWAS data for generalized anxiety disorder being sourced from the IEU Open and GWAS data for panic disorder, agoraphobia, and social phobia being sourced from the Finnish database. Results: The IVW method demonstrated evidence supporting a causal relationship between loud music and generalized anxiety (OR = 1.050, 95% CI: 1.015-1.086, P = 0.004). The weighted median method revealed evidence of a causal relationship between loud music and agoraphobia (OR = 0.263, 95% CI: 0.070-0.985, P = 0.047). None of the methods revealed evidence of a causal relationship between loud music and panic disorder or social anxiety disorder. Cochran's Q test and funnel plot did not reveal evidence of heterogeneity or asymmetry, thus suggesting that there were no directional multi-effects. Conclusion: The results suggest that loud music may be a risk factor for generalized anxiety. While the IVW method did not show a significant causal relationship between loud music exposure and agoraphobia, the WM method indicated an inverse association. Therefore, a potential causal relationship between loud music exposure and agoraphobia cannot be readily dismissed. Whether loud music serves as a protective factor for agoraphobia requires further clarification through clinical and epidemiological investigations.