Weak instruments are a well known limitation for valid causal inference in Mendelian randomization studies. In the single exposure setting, weak instrument bias can be mitigated by selecting genetic i...

Author summary Over 90% of human genetic variants associated with human traits and diseases lie in non-coding regions of the genome, making it difficult to interpret the mechanisms by which these vari...

Author summary Most of the genetic variants associated with complex traits are located outside genes, limiting functional interpretation. Genetic colocalisation helps identify candidate causal genes b...

Deciding which concepts should be described in causal language and which should not Research questions fall into one of three categories: descriptive, predictive, or causal.1 The past decade has seen...

Optimal selection of instrumental variables (IVs) from a single gene region in cis-Mendelian randomization is challenging as variants are highly correlated due to linkage disequilibrium (LD). Using only the lead variant is convenient but may not achieve full statistical power if multiple signals exi …

Background Alcohol consumption has been linked to cancer risk. Evidence is strongest for seven cancer types: breast, colorectum, oesophagus, liver, mouth, pharynx, and larynx. However, evidence suppor...

Colocalization is frequently performed as a step to triage findings from genetic investigations linking molecular and disease data. However, the reliability and consistency of the various colocalizati...

Many Mendelian randomization (MR) papers have been conducted only in people of European ancestry, limiting transportability of results to the global population. Expanding MR to diverse ancestry groups...

Type 2 diabetes is a serious public health risk. It is not well known whether large scale omics data could help improve the risk prediction. We combined the use of metabolic variables with modern mode...

Identifying genetic variants that affect gene expression, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), is a major focus of modern genomics. Today, various methods exist for eQTL mapping, each using dif...

The MRC Biostatistics Unit is delighted to be organising its annual flagship event. The theme of this year’s Armitage Workshop will be: Integration o

Author summary Evaluating whether two traits, such as disease risk and gene expression, are affected by the same genetic variants is crucial for understanding the molecular mechanisms through which ge...

Background: Statins lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and reduce the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, they also increase the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: We c...

AbstractBackground. Immortal time is a period of follow-up during which death or the study outcome cannot occur by design. Bias from immortal time has been