Causal relationship between neuroticism and frailty: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Observational studies have shown that neuroticism is associated with frailty, but the causal relationship between them remains unclear. A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was conducted to explore the bidirectional causal relationship between neuroticism (n = 380,506 for the primary analysis, n = 79,004 for the validation) and frailty (n = 175,226) using publicly available genome-wide association study data. The inverse variance weighted (IVW), weighted median, and MR-Egger were used to obtain the causal estimates. Findings were verified through extensive sensitivity analyses and validated using another dataset. Multivariable MR (MVMR) analysis was performed to estimate the direct causal effects with adjustment of potential confounders. Two-step MR technique was then conducted to explore the mediators in the causal effects of neuroticism on frailty. Genetically-predicted higher neuroticism score was significantly correlated with higher frailty index (IVW beta: 0.53, 95%CI: 0.48 to 0.59, P = 9.3E-83), and genetically-determined higher frailty index was significantly associated with higher neuroticism score (IVW beta: 0.28, 95%CI: 0.21 to 0.35, P = 1.3E-16). These results remained robust across sensitivity analyses and were reproducible using another dataset. The MVMR analysis indicated that the causal relationships remained significant after adjusting for the potential confounding factors. Mediation analysis revealed that depression, years of schooling, and smoking were significantly mediated the causal effects of neuroticism on frailty. A bidirectional causal relationship existed between neuroticism and frailty. Our findings suggested that early intervention and behavioral changes might be helpful to reduce the neuroticism levels and prevent the development of frailty. •A bidirectional causal relationship existed between neuroticism and frailty.•Depression, years of schooling, and smoking were significantly mediated the causal effects of neuroticism on frailty.•These results remained robust across sensitivity analyses and were reproducible using another independent dataset.•Early intervention and behavioral changes may helpful to reduce the neuroticism levels and prevent the development of frailty.