Background: The association between serum uric acid levels and peripheral vertigo diseases, namely Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), Meniere's Disease (MD), and Vestibular Neuritis (VN), remains a subject of controversy. This study utilises the Mendelian Randomization (MR) approach to investigate the potential link between uric acid levels and these peripheral vertigo diseases, with the goal of informing preventative measures and early intervention strategies.
Methods: Datasets pertaining to uric acid levels (sample size = 343 836) and BPPV (ncase = 3834, ncontrol = 209 582), MD (ncase = 1511, ncontrol = 209 582), and VN (ncase = 1224, ncontrol = 209 582) were selected from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Two-sample MR was employed to analyse the correlation between the exposure (uric acid levels) and outcomes (BPPV, MD, VN). The MR analysis methods encompassed Inverse Variance Weighting (IVW), MR-Egger, Simple Mode, Weighted Mode, and Weighted Median methods. The results derived from the IVW analysis were considered as the primary analytical outcomes.
Result: The findings indicated no significant correlation between uric acid levels and BPPV (IVW: OR = 1.152, 95% CI: 0.971-1.367, p = 0.103), MD (IVW: OR = 1.010, 95% CI: 0.757-1.348, p = 0.943), and VN (IVW: OR = 1.005, 95% CI: 0.744-1.358, p = 0.969).
Conclusion: This study employed a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach to conduct an in-depth analysis of the relationship between serum uric acid levels and peripheral vestibular diseases (BPPV, MD, and VN). Our findings indicate that no significant association was found between serum uric acid levels and these diseases. The results of the study do not support the hypothesis that uric acid is an independent risk factor for these conditions.