Objective: To explore genetic variants robustly associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) by Mendelian randomization analysis and to examine its causal association with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods: AMD cases and controls were selected from several hospitals nationwide. Their AMD was diagnosed by eye examination, serum HDL-C levels were examined by blood tests, and other informations were also collected including demographic characteristics, high risk behaviors and so on. The genetic loci hepatic lipase gene (LIPC) rs10468017 was used as instrumental variables for HDL-C.
Results: The study population contained hospital-based 545 AMD patients and 480 controls. The LIPC genotypes were unrelated to all potentially confounding factors measured in this study. In conventional multivariable analyses, the HDL-C level was positively associated with AMD. The odds ratio was 2.00 (95%CI: 1.41-2.86). Instrumental variable analyses (Mendelian randomization approach) showed an increasing odds ratio of HDL-C and AMD, which was 7.15 (95%CI: 0.80-64.13).
Conclusion: Being different with previous observational analysis, this study did not support the status of increasing serum HDL-C level as a risk factor for AMD by Mendelian randomization analysis.