Habitual Coffee Consumption Increases the Risk of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma

PURPOSE

To explore whether there is a causal relationship between coffee consumption and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

DESIGN

Two-sample Mendelian randomization.

PARTICIPANTS

The single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with coffee consumption (including phenotype 1 and phenotype 2) were selected from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 121,824 individuals of European descent. Coffee intake from MRC-IEU UK Biobank was also used to identify instruments for coffee intake. Summary-level data for POAG were obtained from the largest publicly available meta-analyses involving 16,677 POAG cases and 199,580 controls of European descent.

METHODS

Inverse-variance-weighted (IVW) method was the main MR analysis, whereas weighted-median, weighted mode-based estimate (MBE), MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (PRESSO) test, and MR-Egger regression were used for sensitivity analysis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Diagnosis of POAG.

RESULTS

Three sets of instrumental variables were used to evaluate the causal association between coffee consumption and POAG risk. Results showed that genetically predicted higher coffee consumption phenotype 1 (cups/day) was significantly associated with higher risk of POAG (odds ratio [OR] = 1.241, 95% CI = 1.041-1.480, P = 0.016). Genetically predicted higher coffee consumption phenotype 2 (high vs. no/low) was also significantly associated with higher risk of POAG (OR = 1.155, 95% CI = 1.038-1.284, P=0.008, using the IVW method). Moreover, genetically predicted higher coffee intake from MRC-IEU UK Biobank OpenGWAS was significantly associated with higher risk of POAG (OR = 1.727, 95% CI = 1.230-2.425, P=0.002, using the IVW method). Sensitivity analyses confirmed that the findings were robust to possible pleiotropy.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, these findings provide the genetic evidence that higher coffee consumption is associated with a higher risk of POAG. Given that coffee is widely consumed, our findings provide new insights into potential strategies to prevent and manage POAG.