Interrogating Causal Effects of Body Composition and Puberty-Related Risk Factors on Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common form of pediatric musculoskeletal disorder. Observational studies have pointed to several risk factors for AIS, but almost no evidence exists to support their causal association with AIS. Here, we applied Mendelian randomization (MR), known to limit bias from confounding and reverse causation, to investigate causal associations between body composition and puberty-related exposures and AIS risk in Europeans and Asians.