basal metabolic rate, cardiovascular disease, genetics, Mendelian randomization, Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system, RC666-701

Background Despite the health effects of basal metabolic rate (BMR), the causal effect of BMR on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remains undetermined. To elucidate the causal nature, Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed. Methods and Results Summary genome‐wide association statistics regarding BMR and 5 CVDs were obtained from European databases. A 2‐sample bidirectional MR was performed to assess the causal association between BMR and CVDs. The causal effects were estimated using inverse variance weighting. Simultaneously, multiple sensitivity analyses were performed to validate the robustness and reliability of the results. Our results indicated that genetically predicted BMR was significantly positively associated with the risk of heart failure (odds ratio, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.39–1.67]; P