Causal Associations between Tea Consumption and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that tea consumption may have a protective effect against neurodegenerative diseases. However, the exact causal relationship between tea consumption and the precursor stages of certain neurodegenerative diseases, namely, REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), remains unclear. To evaluate the causal association between tea consumption and RBD, we employed a Mendelian randomization study.

Methods: We identified genetic instrumental variables that are significantly associated with tea consumption through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in European populations. Bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization was utilized to determine the causal relationship between tea consumption and RBD, while sensitivity analyses were further employed to evaluate the robustness of the results. The multivariate Mendelian randomization method was used to assess the influence of relevant confounding factors on the results.

Results: In the MR analysis using the inverse-variance weighting method, a significant causal relationship between tea consumption and RBD was observed (OR = 0.046, 95% CI: 0.004-0.563, p = 0.016). The consistency of findings across maximum likelihood, MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier, and multivariate MR after adjusting for potential confounding further supports this causal association. Sensitivity analyses revealed no evidence of heterogeneity or pleiotropy.

Conclusions: The findings of our study demonstrate a robust causal association between tea consumption and RBD, indicating that tea consumption may serve as a protective factor against the development of RBD.