Work

Causal Associations of Brain Imaging-Derived Phenotypes and Intracranial Aneurysm: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) represent a significant and potentially fatal category of cerebrovascular disorders that pose serious health risks. Observational studies have indicated a potential link between brain imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) and various IAs. Nonetheless, the nature of these relationships remains ambiguous. Two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to examine the causal links between IDPs and IAs. We utilized summary statistics from a population comprising 587 brain IDPs (UK Biobank). Additionally, we incorporated data of IAs from the HUNT study. We identified a total of thirteen IDPs that demonstrated a significant causal influence on the risk of developing IA, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and unruptured intracranial aneurysm by forward MR. Specifically, increase in mean diffusivity (MD) in the right external capsule is associated with risk of IA (OR = 1.830, 95% CI 1.134 to 2.553, P = 1.04 × 10 −7 ). The results from the reverse MR analysis revealed that there is an association between genetically predicted IA and isotropic or free water volume fraction in body of corpus callosum (OR = 0.323, 95% CI 0.232 to 0.461, P = 7.22 × 10 −5 ), and an association between SAH and MD in the body of corpus callosum (OR = 0.360, 95% CI 0.236 to 0.540, P = 2.50 × 10 −4 ). The findings indicate that these IDPs play a crucial role in the etiology of these IAs, and highlight the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which they exert their effects.

Source: World Neurosurgery

DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2025.123881